Card Captor Syaoran
by CardCaptor Schlueter
Summary: When a second Clow book appears, Syaoran gets a second chance at capturing the Clow cards. But who is behind the second Clow book's appearance? S+S stuff plus dub jokes and other strange stuff. (Chap7-12 now readable! Yay!)
1. The Circle Opens

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter 

Note: This takes place after Sakura captures the cards but before the Sakura Cards arc. I know that's confusing. But play along for my sake. 

Memo From The Legal Dept. 

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it? 

Prologue: The Circle Opens. 

"Well, Kero-Chan..." I growled, "Is this one of your stupid pranks again?" I was certain it was. You don't spend years studying magic without losing a certain amount of naiveté. The book sat on my desk. It had been there since this morning when I had found it on my doorstep. I was certain Kero was trying to pull a fast one on me. Sakura and Tomoyo were examining it themselves. I thought Sakura should see it too and, well, wherever Sakura goes, Tomoyo comes as well. 

"Are you nuts?!" replied Kero "Do you think I'd joke about something like this?" 

"It sure looks like the real thing." Tomoyo observed. 

The book in question was The Clow book. Okay, it wasn't The Clow book. It couldn't be. Sakura had The Clow book, this just happened to be a book that bared an uncanny resemblance to it. There were some subtle, but obvious differences between the two editions. For starters, the cover was dark blue instead of burgundy. 

"Maybe you should open it, Li-kun," said Sakura "It could be important." 

I glowered at the volume suspiciously. "I still think this is some kind of sick joke..." I walked over to the desk and put my hand on the book's seal. I was trying to keep my distance in case it exploded or something, like those gag cigars. The seal opened easily enough. I opened the book and, sure enough, inside was a deck of Clow cards that looked exactly like Sakura's cards. 

"Kero-Chan...There aren't two Clow books, are there?" asked Tomoyo. 

"Of course not." replied Kero. The book's appearance in my house was still strange. 

"Turn over the top card." suggested Sakura, "It should be `The Windy' card." 

I sighed and reluctantly picked up the top card. It was `The Windy' as Sakura had said it would be. 

"This is very weird." said Kero-Chan. 

Just then, `The Windy' card started to glow in my hand. This was certainly strange. Sakura started to panic. "Ack! Li-kun! Quick! Put the card down before..." The card itself cut her off when it released a huge blast of wind that sent the cards flying out of the book. Tomoyo tried to shield her face with her arm. Even I was looking for cover. When the wind died down I stumbled back to my feet. There were only a few cards left in the book and `The Windy' card left in my hand. And lying on my desk sleeping was.... Kero-Chan? 

"Kero! How can you be sleeping at a time like this?" I growled. 

"What are you talking about?" The voice sounded like Kero-Chan's, but it came from behind me. I turned around and there he was. 

"But if you're here... Who is that sleeping on my desk?" I was seriously confused here. 

Everyone gathered around to look. The sleeping creature sure looked like Kero-Chan, except for maybe being a little more orange in color. The creature yawned and stretched and blinked it's eyes. It looked at me, then at the book, then at `The Windy' card in my hand. 

"Well, this is an interesting development." It said looking at me. "So I guess that you're the one who opened the book, ne?" 

I nodded wordlessly. 

"Congratulations, you just opened the seal of The Clow book. I'm Cerberus, the guardian beast of the seal and you are going to have to get those cards back." said the Kero look-alike. 

I stared in utter disbelief. I was not alone in this though. Sakura and Tomoyo were staring too. 

Somehow I knew this wouldn't lead to anything good. 

Next: Syaoran is the next chosen Card Captor? Will he survive his apartment being invaded by Clow cards? Will he survive Tomoyo trying to stick him into cutesy costumes? 

Find out in "Chapter One: Li Syaoran And The New Clow." 


	2. Li Syaoran And The New Clow

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (aka Syaoran-kun) 

Insert Standard Legal Disclaimer Here 

Chapter One: Li Syaoran And The New Clow 

I've seen some strange, arcane, and occasionally downright weird things in my life but what I was seeing at this very moment outdid them all. 

Two Keros. 

This was bad. Very bad. Bad beyond all normal realms of possible badness and then some. 

So, as you can guess, I wasn't entirely happy about this development. If there was someone who was more displeased with the situation at hand then me it was Kero-Chan himself. 

"All right, you imposter!" he screamed "Who do you think you are?!" 

The other Kero blinked. "Ne? Who are you?" 

"Who am I?" yelled Kero "I'm Cerberus. Guardian of the seal of the Clow book." 

"No, you're not! I am!" 

"Something very strange is going on here..." began Tomoyo. 

"What was your first clue?" I asked. 

"Okay, this is no time to argue." began Sakura, always the voice of reason. "Kero, could there be any explanation for two identical Clow books?" 

"Well..." Kero-Chan began "There's this whole temporal theory behind magic. That there are hundreds of universes based on different timelines. In theory, that means that there's a set of Clow cards for each possible timeline. No doubt in a few of those timelines the Clow book was destined to be opened by Syaoran instead of you. This Clow book must be from one of those alternate realities. That makes this Clow book, and it's guardian, just as legitimate as the one you found, Sakura." 

"But what could have caused it to shift realities like this?" asked Tomoyo. 

"There are two possibilities," said Kero-Chan "The first is that there was some kind of temporal glitch. If that's the case than the book will probably return to it's own reality after Li captures all the cards. The other is that the book arrived here because something very bad is coming in this reality. Something that requires two Card Captors with full sets of cards to fight." 

"Those possibilities are both very bad." I said. 

"What do you mean, Li-kun?" asked Sakura "We'll both have a set of Clow cards. It works out perfectly." 

"No, it doesn't, Sakura-Chan." I replied. "If it's just a fluke, the book will be gone and I'll be back where I started from. If it's not.... Correct me if I'm wrong, Kero, but a deliberate shift in a temporal reality requires a threat that could destroy all realities. That's a pretty high price to pay for a second set of Clow cards." 

"Unfortunately," began Kero-Chan "There's no way to be certain until all the cards are captured." 

"Ahem!" The other Kero was looking kind of ticked off. He had just arrived and was already being ignored. "If the four of you are done, I have a Card Captor I have to deal with." 

"By the way..." Tomoyo began. "What do we call him? We're going to need someway of telling them apart. After all we can't call them both `Kero-Chan', can we?" 

"That's a good point." I said. "How about we call this one `Kero-Ni'?" 

"Kero Number Two... That's pretty good, Li-kun." said Sakura. 

After several minutes of sorting out the details of everything that had happened with the first Clow book to Kero-Ni, he finally got his chance to make a speech. He floated around Sakura's head for a minute. 

"So... This is the Card Captor in this timeline, ne?" Kero-Ni seemed unimpressed. "No wonder you need another one." 

"Hey!" shouted Kero-Chan. "Sakura was the chosen Card Captor and she proved herself by capturing all the cards." 

"Must be a second rate set of Clow cards." Kero-Ni replied. "To go with it's second rate guardian beast." 

I let out a low sigh. This reminded me of listening to Meiling argue with Kero-Chan. 

"You know..." said Tomoyo "I couldn't help but notice that there were still some Clow cards left in the book." 

"That's right." I replied. I took the few remaining cards from the book and looked at them carefully. "These are all the cards I already have. The ones I caught from Sakura's deck." 

"Well, that means that you'll start capturing with those same cards." said Kero-Ni. "No sense starting with a handicap, ne? The only catch is that you'll have to return the cards from Sakura's deck." 

I took my share of the Clow cards from my desk drawer. I was still somewhat suspicious about this whole thing. 

As if reading my mind, Sakura spoke up. "Don't worry, Li-kun." she said "If the book disappears when you're done I can always give them back." Well, if there was anyone I could trust it was Sakura-Chan. I reluctantly handed over the cards to her. 

"Okay. Now that that's out of the way..." Kero-Ni began "You'll be needing this." He handed me the Clow key. It looked exactly like Sakura's key only with blue and green instead of red and pink. 

"I'm not going to have to use that stupid wand, am I?" I asked. 

"Nah." Kero-Ni replied. "The Key will act as sort of a magic cipher system for that sword of yours. It'll make sealing the cards easier and you won't be burning up as much magic either." 

"This could take a while." said Sakura. "Maybe I should go make some tea." With that Sakura headed into the kitchen and Kero-Ni continued his lecture. I wasn't really listening. I knew everything he was going to say. I found myself thinking about Sakura again. 

Maybe... maybe someday I'll be able to tell her... Maybe this whole thing will turn out to be the perfect opportunity. Maybe... 

"Li-kun?" Sakura's voice snapped me out of my daydream. 

"What is it, Sakura-Chan?" I asked. 

"It's the kitchen faucet. It won't turn off." she replied. 

I rushed into the kitchen. The sink was starting to fill up fast. "I don't get it." I said. "The landlord fixed it just last week." Just then, I sensed something. "Sakura! It's a Clow card. I turned out to be right as the water started to take on a life of it's own. "It's `The Watery' card!" 

Tomoyo rushed in with my sword. "Li-kun! Here!" I took the sword and just managed to dodge Watery's first attack. It turned to attack again. I had to use a card and I had to be quick about it. 

"Freeze card! Turn `Watery' to ice!" The Freeze card filled the room with a bitter chill. The Watery quickly froze under the Freeze card's power. "Watery card! Return to your power confined!" The ice melted away and pulled together leaving only a single Clow card hanging in the air. The card floated over and landed in my hand. 

"See. What'd I tell you?" boasted Kero-Ni "He's a natural." Kero-Chan just sniffed with contempt. 

"There's still an awful mess to clean up." said Tomoyo. "There's water all over the floor." 

I was about to let out a sigh of relief when a tree began growing out of the floor. Within seconds the kitchen was starting to fill will plant life. 

"Li-kun! Look out!" shouted Sakura. 

This was completely insane. `The Wood' card was hiding in my floor! I started to hack through the foliage that was rapidly filling my kitchen. At the center of it all was a strangely feminine tree. "Wood Card!" I shouted. "Return to your power confined!" The plants and trees were quickly sucked up into another card. The card floated over and once again dropped into my hand. 

I finally allowed myself a sigh of relief. Sakura and Tomoyo sighed as well. Crisis averted. Suddenly, Tomoyo started to brighten. 

"You know this would look great on tape." she began. 

"What?" I said flatly. 

"But you know, Li-kun, you always wear those same robes." Tomoyo was getting ideas. This was bad. "I know what would look perfect on you..." 

I sweatdropped. "Oh no... No way, Tomoyo-Chan!" 

"I can see it all now!" 

Somehow I knew this wasn't going to lead to anything good. 

Next: The Card Capturing has just begun for Syaoran when he finds that everyone in class is asleep and not from Terada's lecture either. Then he finds himself involved in an elaborate game of hide and seek with the kawaii and always playful `Rain' card. But that's nothing when Rika decides to play a game of `Tag' with poor old Li while under the control of `The Sword' card. 

All this and more in "Chapter Two: When It Rains, It Pours." 

Notes: Okay, now that the set-up is finished I can feel free to have some real fun with this story. Obviously, it would make the story too long and drawn out if I had Li capture all the cards. I'm limiting it to about twenty or so of the most interesting ones. 


	3. When It Rains, It Pours

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun) 

Memo From The Legal Dept. 

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it? 

Chapter Two: When It Rains, It Pours. 

"Shadow Card! Return to your power confined!" 

I was frankly getting very sick of shouting that phrase. I had become a Card Captor on Friday and here I was two days later facing a constant stream of Clow cards. I had just gotten out of bed to discover that `The Sweet' card had taken up residence in my house. I'd like to say that my awesome power of magic had allowed me to sense the card's presence, but I'd be lying. Frankly, I was pretty sure that my kitchen didn't look like the gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel when I went to bed. If that wasn't enough, `The Jump' card was trying to eat my fridge, which was now made of chocolate. The only good thing was that I had managed to restore things to normal before Kero-Ni got up and decided to eat the peppermint kitchen sink. 

I had always pictured how I would have gone about capturing the Clow cards. I had always pictured it as being efficient or, to put it simply, not at all like how Sakura handled things with goofy costumes, Tomoyo and her camcorder and certainly not with that obnoxious stuffed animal. Unfortunately, I now had my own version of the guardian beast (if you could call it that) and getting Tomoyo to drop the camera would've taken an act of God. 

Such an act did not occur. My bad luck, I suppose. 

So there I stood, having captured my eleventh Clow card (if you count the ones I started with). I only wished I could have been wearing the Li clan's robes instead of this weird outfit Tomoyo had insisted that I wear tonight. 

** 

"Do I really have to wear this thing?" I had asked. 

Earlier this morning, Tomoyo had insisted I stop by to try on the outfit she wanted me to wear for the next card capture. You might wonder how I was suckered into this. The answer is that Tomoyo had enlisted Sakura who said that it would be so nice if I played along just this once. Please? Pretty please? I think Tomoyo has a future in manipulation through emotional blackmail. So that's how I ended up in Tomoyo's closet, trying desperately to change clothes in the small dark space and with one of Tomoyo's elaborate creations, that isn't easy. Even after I got the damned thing on, I still felt like an idiot. 

"Relax, Li-kun." Tomoyo said. "Have a little faith, ne?" 

"I still think this idea is stupid." I replied. 

"Li-kun, I'm sure you look fine." said Sakura. 

`Somebody please just kill me now.' I thought to myself as I opened the door. 

The outfit was mostly Tomoyo's creation but I had insisted on a few things about it. I probably should have insisted on more. The design lay somewhere between Chinese traditionalism and some goofball school girl fantasy. The shirt and pants were both standard Chinese issue for martial artists, all in black. The sleeves of the shirt fit a lot closer that the large baggy ones on my robes and had white cuffs. It also had little gold fasteners on the left side and gold trim on the collar. (I was pretty sure the fasteners were just gold-colored but knowing Tomoyo I couldn't be sure.) It also came with a bright red sash and a cape. The cape was black on the to layer with the Clow crecent moon symbol on it (at my insistence) and gold trim along the bottom. The bottom layer of the cape was red. The cape was held together at the front by a small medallion with the black and white Chinese yin-yang symbol on it. If this was not enough, Tomoyo had instead that I wear a beret, a black one. `Prince Charming goes to the far East' was the overall effect 

I couldn't help but be reminded of a quote I had read from an old book once that went: `I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' It re-worded itself in my head to: `I am become Sakura, the captor of Clow cards.' 

"I still say this is stupid." I grumbled with my eyes shut so I wouldn't be forced to look at myself in this stupid thing. I couldn't help but notice that no one had responded. I opened my eyes to see what was up. Sakura had this weird dreamy eyed look on her face. Even Tomoyo was looking a little out of it. What was this all about? 

I snapped my fingers in front of Sakura's face a couple of times. "Hello? Anyone home?" Sakura suddenly seemed to come back to reality. "What's with the silent treatment?" I asked. 

Sakura blushed for a moment. (Strange but true) "I'm sorry, Li-kun." she said. "But that outfit does look good on you." 

Frankly, I thought I looked like something out of a bad rip-off of "Sailor Moon". I couldn't help but wonder what had been going through Sakura's head a couple of moments earlier. 

** 

`The Shadow' card drifted down into my hand. This was not my ideal Sunday night. I don't mean to say that I didn't want to capture the card, I just didn't want to have to deal with Tomoyo and her camera or her outfits. For the record, I wasn't the only victim of Tomoyo's fashion fetish this weekend. Tomoyo had thought it would be funny to put Sakura in a set of robes like mine. I had protested that one. The Li clan's traditions were nothing to be made light of. I insisted that the robes could not bear any of the Li family symbols. The result was that Sakura's outfit looked, more or less, like Meiling's. It had more pink, of course, than Meiling's and it also had a little red bow under the collar. For the record, I had made it quite clear to Sakura that she was not to use her own Clow cards to help me unless I really needed it. 

"That was fantastic, Li-kun!" said Tomoyo. 

I sighed ruefully. This was not how I had planned it. 

** 

The next morning, Tomoyo was at it again. On the way to classes she just went on and on. 

"You were great, Li-kun!" she said. You could be the next James Bond! The camera loves you, babe." 

"You've been reading way too many Hollywood magazines lately, Daidouji." I replied. "You know, if my mother ever finds out about this..." 

"Relax, Li-kun." Tomoyo said cheerfully. 

I was actually starting to look forward to one of Terada's long drawn out lectures. When we walked into class I wondered if we hadn't missed it. Everyone in the class was asleep. Okay, so I'm just trying to be funny. The truth is that I knew that it had to be a Clow card. 

"What's going on here?" asked Sakura. 

"It must be `The Sleep' card." I replied. 

Indeed it was. The card appeared from behind Terada's desk. If I didn't move fast we'd all be snoozing. I barely had time to get my sword before the card started its attack. I didn't have time to use a Clow card so I had to swat the card out of the way with the flat side of the sword. The card hit the far wall and was about to attack again when I made my move. 

"Sleep card! Return to your power confined!" The card dissolved into waves of energy that formed `The Sleep' card's sealed form. The card drifted down onto a desk. 

"So much for a quiet morning." I grumbled as I picked up the card. 

"And me without my camera." Tomoyo said sadly. 

"So what now?" asked Sakura. 

"It'll be a while before they wake up." I replied. "I guess we just sit around until then." 

"How are we going to explain this whole thing?" Sakura asked. 

"Let's hope they don't ask." I said. I was kind of hoping that I wouldn't have to deal with any more surprises today. 

I was, of course, wrong. 

This particular epiphany came to me when a small white cloud, the size of a pillow, floated in through the window and stopped about half a foot from my face. `The Rain' card popped up from its hiding place in the cloud. It stopped and stared at me for a minute. I just stared back. The card floated a little close until it was an inch from my face and continued to stare at me for a second before giggling cutely. I wondered what was so funny. `The Rain' card kissed me on the nose and then took off into the hallway, giggling all the way. 

I stood there staring blankly for a moment. "What... was that all about?" 

"I think `The Rain' card wants to play some kind of game with you, Li-kun." said Sakura. 

I was still trying to get over the fact that the card had kissed me. How weird. "Well, we'd better go after it." I said. `The Rain' card was, more or less, just a kawaii little sprite on a cloud. If I could find it again it wouldn't be too hard to capture it. 

Things aren't always as easy as you'd think. 

Which explains what happened next. The only thing I knew about Sakura's friend, Rika, was that she was occasionally late and had once tried to kill us with `The Sword' card. That was about it. Today just happened to be one of those days that didn't go well for Rika. 

"Sakura-Chan! Tomoyo-Chan!" She ran down the hallway with that kind of panicked look people get when they're late. I was only glad that she hadn't seen `The Rain' card make its exit. Then again, I wasn't sure how we'd explain the room full of snoozing students. 

"Rika-Chan!" began Sakura. 

"Class hasn't started yet, has it?" asked Rika. 

"Um... No. Not really." Sakura sweatdropped. 

"Oh, Li-kun.... Does Terada-sensei know that you bring that thing to school with you?" Rika asked. 

It was just then that I realized that I was still carrying my sword. "Uh... Actually..." I began. 

"You know, it's so weird." Rika said, cutting me off in mid-sentence. "You know that sword brooch I lost at your house?" 

I had started to wander off in search of `The Rain' card when Rika began talking but I stopped suddenly when I head her mention the sword pin. 

"I found it just this morning." Rika finished cheerfully. I abruptly turned around and... ACK! She was already wearing it. I think we all know what happens next. Rika's face went blank and two seconds later we were running for our lives. 

"Is anyone else getting a sense of déjà vu here?" I asked. I decided to stop running and fight. 

"Wait! Li-kun!" shouted Sakura "You can't hurt Rika!" 

I managed to deflect Rika's first attack. "Who's trying to hurt who here?" 

"You have to promise me you won't hurt her, Li-kun. Please!" 

"I don't suppose there's any way you can get her to make the same promise." I said. I parried the next three attacks. I used a single swing to place the tip of my sword under the hilt of Rika's. I jerked my sword up and yanked `The Sword' from Rika's hand 

"Sword Card! Return to your power confined!" I managed to seal the card just before Rika fainted. I just barely managed to catch her. "This isn't the quiet morning I was hoping for." I mumbled. 

"That makes two more captures I've missed." Tomoyo grumbled. At least my plans weren't the only ones going awry. 

The day hadn't even started yet and I was already exhausted. Just then I felt something on the side of my head. I glance over to see `The Rain' card smiling sweetly and patting my head with one of its little hands. I placed the end of my sword lightly on the card's head and said quietly "Return to your power confined." `The Rain' returned to its card form with a small poof. I couldn't help but get the feeling that `The Rain' card had taken pity on me for some reason. 

Oh well. A card's a card, I guess. 

Next: There's no rest for the weary. Li finds himself face to face with `The Illusion', `The Mirror' and `The Twin' who have all come together for the goal of impersonating Sakura. It's Sakura times four, but only one of them is real. 

See it all in "Chapter Three: Will The Real Sakura Kinamoto Please Step Forward?" 


	4. Interlude: Eriol

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun) 

Memo From The Legal Dept. 

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it? 

Interlude: Eriol 

Eriol Hiiragizawa was far more perceptive than most people. Of course, most people aren't inhabited by the powers of Clow Reed either. He had always made it a point to be aware of everything that went on around him. 

So, naturally, he was paying very close attention to the matter of Li Syaoran's new Clow book. Being a highly powerful and highly skilled magic-type person, Eriol could sense what was happening fairly easily. His perceptions were surprisingly accurate most of the time. He could predict what would happen next on one of Tomoyo's tapes as though it were a bad Hollywood genre picture. He could probably make a lot of money working for "The Psychic Friends" network. 

Of course, had Li Syaoran known that Eriol was spying on him with magic he probably would've tried to strangle him for it. But, if he knew, it wouldn't be spying, now would it? 

"I still don't see why that brat deserves to get his own set of Clow cards." Ruby Moon grumbled. 

"Do you actually think that?" asked Eriol "Or are you just saying that because it's what Touya believes?" 

He had her on that one. If Ruby Moon had a biased against someone or something it was generally because Touya had the same biased. Well, there you go. 

"Well, you have to admit, he is pretty obnoxious." Ruby Moon replied. 

Eriol shrugged and headed back inside the house. "I don't know about that." he said. 

"What are you talking about?" said Ruby Moon. "He's a mean snarling little jerk." 

Eriol seemed amused by that remark. "It's all a matter of perspective. Oh, it's true that he can be pretty abrasive sometimes." 

"Sometimes? How about all the time?" 

Eriol waved off Ruby Moon's witticism. "There's a lot more to it. The Li clan has more or less set it's entire fate on Syaoran's success or failure. They have their reasons, of course, but the truth is that Syaoran is the Li clan's only male heir and as such there's a lot hinging on how he leads his life. The truth is that Li Syaoran, if he gets all the cards, will have more magical power than Sakura does. It has nothing to do with the card themselves. The fact is that Syaoran knows a lot more about the Clow cards and sorcery in general than Sakura does and he probably always will. On the other hand, he hasn't had what could be called a normal childhood or any childhood really. His magic studies have occupied his life and cut him off from the outside world. He's only twelve and he has the responsibilities of his family, his magic studies, the Clow cards and then they send him off to live by himself. That's a lot to put on a kid's shoulders. He's been put in a role that he shouldn't be put in until he's much older and that most people couldn't handle at any stage of their life." 

Eriol sat down before continuing. "He's grown up, more or less alone, and has no one he can really trust but himself. The side of himself he shows the world, `the brat' as Touya would say, is nothing but a hollow persona. It's a defense mechanism. He holds himself as someone who is always prepared to lash out at people both verbally and physically so they won't disturb his solitude, so they can't get close enough to hurt him. Almost everything he says and does are all a part of the act. I doubt that Syaoran himself is consciously aware of it. Maybe he believes that's what he really is too. I don't suppose you've noticed how he acts around Sakura?" "Who wouldn't?" Ruby Moon replied. "Only Sakura Kinamoto would be naïve enough to miss it." 

"I suppose that's true." 

"I just don't understand why he doesn't just spit it out already." Ruby Moon grumbled. 

"There are reasons for that too." Eriol replied. "For starters, he probably feels guilty about it." 

"Guilty? What for?" 

"Think of it this way. He shows up to lay claim on what he has been told should rightfully be his, having sacrificed most of his short life studying for it, only to discover that someone else has gotten to it first. Not only that, but the person who has claimed it has no magical background and she's got all of the things he had to give up." 

"Okay, so that explains why Syaoran was so ticked off with her." said Ruby Moon. 

"Exactly." Eriol replied. "So what does he do? Well, first he tries to take the cards by force. That doesn't work so he tries a constant stream of verbal abuse. He tells her she's hopeless, pathetic, that she has no talent as a Card Captor. But instead of giving up, Sakura tries to reason with him. She tries to be his friend despite his cruel remarks." 

"So, he falls in love with her bcause she's nice to him even when he acts like a jerk?" 

"I can't say that for certain, Nakuru." Eriol said. "But he feels guilty about it because he knows he's still supposed to hate her. The bigger factor is probably that confessing what he feels for her would be throwing away all his defenses. The fact that he seems to trust Sakura and Tomoyo is definitely progress." He paused to think. "I believe Syaoran will eventually tell her. If the capturing of the cards made Sakura stronger in her magic skills, maybe it will help Syaoran with his people skills." 

"What about Yue?" asked Ruby Moon "Will we need another judgment from him once Syaoran capture the cards?" 

"No. I think not." Eriol replied. "No sense disturbing Yue just yet. Besides, if the whole thing is a fluke then it's pointless. And if something really bad is coming, it might not be a good time to be worrying about Yue's judgment anyway." 


	5. Will The Real Sakura Kinomoto Please Ste...

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun) 

Memo From The Legal Dept. 

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it? 

Chapter Three: Will The Real Sakura Kinamoto Please Step Forward? 

Thankfully, there wasn't too much talk about the morning's events as the day wore on. I had been wondering how to tell my family back home about all of this. I wasn't sure how they would take it. Hell, I wasn't all that sure how I was taking it. Three days I've been an official Card Captor and I've barely had time to think about what it all means. Lord knows I have enough to deal with when I'm just the second stringer in the situation. 

Alas, that's all I was until now. Sakura was the Card Captor and I was just, well, there. I was her assistant, which didn't seem right at first. But, I guess I had grown accustomed to my role. Sometimes I wonder if I hadn't made a mistake by becoming more passive in my pursuit of the cards. But, the past is the past. 

My philosophizing prevented me from listening to Terada's lecture but it didn't matter much anyway. Whatever he was talking about was probably of no use to me anyway. 

** 

"What good is this card going to be to me anyway?" I grumbled. "I already have a sword." 

I didn't expect an answer. After all I was alone. As I walked home I wondered what good it would do me to have `The Sword' card since I used the Li family sword for everything anyway. I let out a sigh. Maybe Kero-Ni would know the answer. 

"Li-kun!" 

My thoughts were interrupted by the very familiar voice of Sakura. I turned around to see her running to catch up with me. 

"Li-kun, I'd like to talk to you about something." she said. Somehow, I sensed something odd about her. She had the weirdest smile on her face, like she was getting away with something. 

"Um... Okay." I replied. 

"Hey, Li-kun!" Wait a second. That sounded like.... Sure enough it was Sakura and Tomoyo. Once they got within a few yards they stopped dead in their tracks. They no doubt noticed what I noticed. 

We had one Sakura too many. 

When I turned back to face the Sakura standing next to me... ACK! There were two of them! 

Three Sakuras! 

"What's going on here?" asked Tomoyo, sounding nervous. 

"Clow cards.." I replied quietly. 

The two Sakura close to me ran over and grabbed the third one and started spinning in a circle. 

"Round and round we go!" one of them shouted. "Where we stop nobody knows!" When the whole thing stopped I was faced with three identical and very dizzy Sakuras 

"What is all this, Li-kun?" Tomoyo was now panicked. 

"It's `The Mirror' card and `The Illusion' card." I replied. This was the last thing I needed, a game of Three Card Captor Monte. I had to be able to figure out which Sakura was which before I could seal the cards. I retrieved my sword form my backback and tried to focus on which was which. "No good. They're too close. I can't tell the magic signatures apart." 

"I'm the real Sakura!" one of the clones said. 

"No, I am." said the second. 

The one on the left stayed silent. It just stood there. I took advantage of discovering the card's weakness. 

"Illusion card!" I said pointing my sword at the Sakura on the left. "Return to your power confined!" 

The Illusion started to go weird like a television image when static hits. It slowly dissolved into a single Clow card that floated over to me. 

"That was pretty good." said Tomoyo. 

"The Illusion card can't speak like `The Mirror' or `The Twin'." I said. "It's easy to spot, if you know what to look for. Picking out `The Mirror' on the other hand..." I looked over at the two remaining Sakuras. "..is another matter." 

"What happens if you can't pick it out?" asked Tomoyo. 

"Then..." I said "We're in big trouble." 

"Is there any way to tell them apart?" 

"I could use an attack card." I replied. "The card would pass right by `The Mirror' but it would also probably do some serious damage to the real Sakura." 

"I'm the real Sakura!" 

"No! I am!" 

"So what do we do?" Tomoyo asked. 

I stopped and tried very hard to focus. I thought very carefully about the situation and then I came up with something. I pointed my sword to the Sakura on the right. "You're the Clow card `Mirror'!" I announced. 

The Sakura on the right suddenly glowed as its form dissolved and reformed as a girl wearing long robes and carrying a mirror. 

"Mirror card! Return to your power confined!" `The Mirror' was once again surrounded by light and once the light had faded all that was left was the card, which promptly placed itself in my hand. 

We all let out a collective sigh. 

"That was pretty good, Li-kun!" Sakura said cheerfully. "How did you manage to tell the two of us apart? 

"Yeah. That was great!" Tomoyo chimed in. 

"Well... Um..." I was starting to blush. "Actually I just took a guess." 

Tomoyo and Sakura facefaulted and fell over. 

"Hey, even I can't know everything." I grumbled. 

After all, half of everything is luck, isn't it? 

Next: Syaoran's dealt with humiliation before. He was trapped in Kero-Chan's body. He was forced to play the princess in the school play. But what he's facing this time is a new hybrid form of humiliation when `The Change' card appears again and forces Li to walk a mile in Sakura's kawaii little shoes. 

All this plus Li getting revenge on Touya in "Chapter Four: When Amber Eyes Turn Green" 

Notes: I know I originally said `The Twin' card would be in this chapter but someone pointed out that Li already had `The Twin'. So I had to rewrite most of the chapter, which made it shorter and, I think, a little duller. 


	6. When Amber Eyes Turn Green

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun) 

Memo From The Legal Dept. 

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it? 

Chapter Four: When Amber Eyes Turn Green 

"Hurry! It's getting away!" shouted Sakura. 

We had been chasing `The Change' card for almost an hour. That blasted blue iguana thing was giving me a headache. Sakura and I chased it through the park with Tomoyo and her camera only a couple of steps behind. I had hoped that this afternoon would be quiet after facing `The Illusion' and `The Mirror' just yesterday. 

Yeah, right. 

If that wasn't enough, Kero-Chan and Kero-Ni had insisted on coming too. There are few things less amusing than listening to two stuffed animals argue with each other over absolutely everything. 

"Sakura!" I said. "If we both use `The Dash' card, we should be able to cut it off. You go left and I'll go right!" 

"Good idea." replied Sakura. 

"Dash Card! Release!" Sakura and I used the incantation in perfect synch with each other. (Weird, ne?) Almost immediately we started gaining ground on `The Change' card. 

I managed to tackle the card first with Sakura catching it just a split second behind me. The card struggled to get away and it was starting to glow. I knew that couldn't be anything good, so I had to move fast to seal it. 

"Change card! Return to your power confined!" 

We were surrounded by the card's blue glow for a few seconds. It was so strong I had to close my eyes. When I opened them again, the card had been sealed and was sitting on the ground a couple of feet away. My head suddenly filled with dull pain. That damn card. 

"Are you guys all right?" asked Tomoyo. 

I got to my feet. "I think so, Daidouji." I said. What was that? My voice sounded weird for some reason. 

Tomoyo blinked. "What did you say?" 

"I said I'm fine. Geez... What's up with my voice all of a sudden?" Tomoyo and the Keros were staring. "What's up? Why are you all staring?" 

"Are... you feeling okay, Sakura-Chan?" asked Tomoyo. 

Sakura-Chan? 

No. 

It couldn't be. 

Just then I heard a slight moan and a voice that I recognized very well as being my own say "Li-kun. Did we get the card?" I turned around and found myself face to face with... me! 

It was! My life sucks. 

"Oh no..." mumbled Sakura as me. "Not this again." 

"Looks like `The Change' card strikes again." mumbled Kero-Chan. 

A time like this requires calm reasoning, thought and planning. So I did the one thing I could. I screamed. 

"No! NO! NOOOO! Why do these things always happen to me?!" 

"Now just calm down, Sak- er.. Syaoran." said Kero-Ni. 

"Calm down?! This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me?! This is even worse that being trapped as that stupid stuffed animal!!" 

"Gee, thanks." Kero-Chan grumbled sarcastically. 

"You know, this isn't exactly the greatest moment of my life either, Li-kun." said Sakura. "Besides, we only have to go through one day of this and then we can change back." "One day? Who told you that?" asked Kero-Ni "The card from my book requires forty eight hours." 

"ACK!" This was not good news to me. 

Kero-Chan nodded. "Since the brat's Clow book comes from a different reality, there will be some minor differences in the cards' powers." 

"Well, that's just great. How wonderful." I grumbled with enough sarcasm to kill a bison. 

"Now, Li-kun." Tomoyo chided. "You shouldn't use that attitude. It's not ladylike." 

"ACK!" I replied. "Don't say things like that!" 

** 

So there I stood, just in front of Sakura's house, staring at it. I must've looked very stupid. 

"Would you quit staring and just go inside!" Kero-Chan shouted. Sakura had insisted that he stay with me in case I "slipped out of character", so to speak. "I'm freezing." 

"You think I'm not?" I replied. I was not taking the idea of being trapped in Sakura's body for the next two days very well. Half of that was because of the damned school uniform. I was feeling a draft creeping up into places where drafts should not creep, if you get my drift. Stupid skirt. This was bad. It was even worse than that whole incident involving the school production of `Sleeping Beauty' which I was trying very hard not to think of and failing plus, I had no idea of what to expect and how the hell was I going to pass myself off as Sakura who clearly got lucky in the sense that I live alone and don't need to worry about acting like myself around other people after four o'clock. With that mental rant out of the way, I walked up to the door. 

Before I had a chance to touch the doorknob, Touya opened it. He glared at me and I instantly became nervous. 

"You're getting home awfully late." He said. 

He was about to say something sarcastic, no doubt one of his usual taunts that Sakura complains about, when I lost my temper. After all that had happened to me today, I was not in the mood to listen to Touya mock me. So I punched him in the stomach. 

"I'm not in a good mood today, Touya." I growled striding briskly past him. 

"Geez..." moaned Touya. "What's up with you today? You're acting like that Chinese brat." 

Brat, am I? I turned to face him and promptly kicked his legs out from under him. "Maybe it's just something you bring out in people." I said. I started to head upstairs when Touya got back to his feet. 

"You're being a real pain, Sakura." He grumbled. 

"Yeah, whatever." I muttered and headed up to Sakura's room. Once the door was closed, Kero-Chan came to life. I tossed my hat on the bed. 

"Okay," said Kero-Chan. "You remember what we talked about. You know, staying in character? That was a very good example of what you shouldn't be doing." 

"Why not?" I said as I sat down at the chair near Sakura's desk. "He had it coming. Sakura should've done that years ago." 

"That's not the point." said Kero-Chan. 

"You know, now that I think about it..." A smile came to my face "This is my opportunity for some payback. Heheheheh. Touya's going to regret calling me a brat." 

Kero-Chan sweatdropped. "Don't you think Sakura's going to be a little bit mad if you pummel her brother into oblivion?" 

"Why would she?" I asked. "Besides, who could stay mad at this kawaii little face? Hee hee. This could be a blessing in disguise! I can get away with murder! All because I inhabit this adorable little package!" 

"Please stop, kid..." Kero-Chan said nervously. "You're starting to scare me." 

"I guess it was inevitable that there'd be some perks to this." I said looking at myself in the mirror. "I mean, look at this stupid uniform. What kind of weirdo pervert designed these things? How does Sakura wear this kind of thing?" 

"Uh... If you don't like that, you're not going to be too impressed with the rest of Sakura's wardrobe." Kero-Chan said ominously. He floated over and opened the closet door to reveal the vast wardrobe of Sakura Kinamoto, including Tomoyo's battle outfits(TM). 

"ACK!" was the only thing I could say. It turns out that Sakura did not own a single pair of pants. What happened to the feminist revolution? I was starting to wish Sakura didn't go out her way do be fashionable. 

I was back to being depressed again. I slumped down on the floor and buried my face in my hands trying desperately not to think of who and where I was. 

"I don't see what you're so depressed about." muttered Kero-Chan. "I mean, at least you're still a human this time, right?" 

"Yeah... but..." 

"But what?" Kero-Chan asked. 

"Never mind." I said. 

"Does this have anything to do with your crush on Sakura?" Kero asked. 

"WHAT?!" I felt my face turn red. "I... I don't... I don't know what you're talking about." 

"Sure, you don't." said Kero-Chan sarcastically. "You only hide it like an elephant in a haystack. Only Sakura would be naïve and innocent enough to miss it, but don't think the rest of us are in the dark." 

"ACK!" I seemed to be using that expression a lot lately. 

"You didn't think you could fool the guardian beast, did you?" 

I managed to regain some composure, although my face was still very red. "No, but I thought I could fool a stuffed animal." 

"AH-HA! So you admit it!" Kero-shouted triumphantly. 

I almost fell over. And then, I fell over. Kero had tricked me! I had been tricked by a stuffed animal! 

This was not my day. 

"Ah, don't worry about it." said Kero-Chan. "I won't tell her." 

"You won't?" 

"And miss watching you flounder like an idiot? Never." 

"Gee, thanks." I replied sarcastically. I got to my feet and sat down on Sakura's bed. "I wonder how Sakura's doing right now." 

"Don't worry." said Kero "She's a much better actor than you are." 

I glowered at him. He just smirked and flew around the room. That dumb stuffed toy. 

I looked over and saw my reflection in the mirror. I saw the face that I cared so much about. But it wasn't really her face this time. Somehow it seemed different when I was the one behind it. I had always wondered what went on in Sakura's head, but I didn't have any better an idea now than ever. I wasn't in Sakura's mind; I was just in her body (Yikes, that sounds like a loaded sentence.) I wasn't any different except in appearances. 

I started to give that some serious thought. After all, it was going to be a long two days. 

Next: See Li deal with various nightmares of being Sakura! See Li attend cheerleading practice! See Li try to act like Sakura around Sakura's friends! See Li have a panic attack caused by something we can't mention here! See Li continue to abuse Touya! 

All this and other things in "Chapter Five: She's Not Who She Used To Be." 


	7. She Is Not Who She Used To Be

Card Captor Syaoran  
  
A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun)  
  
  
Memo From The Legal Dept.  
  
We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it?  
  
  
Chapter Four: She's Not Who She Used To Be.  
  
Dinner in the Kinamoto house that night was uneventful. At least as uneventful as living someone else's routine can be, I guess. I had to restrain myself from injuring Touya further, at least for now. I continued Sakura's practice of sneaking off with dessert for Kero-Chan.   
"You know," said Touya as I headed up the stairs. "You sure have been touchy on the subject of the brat today."  
Okay, that was it! This time I was going to snap him like a twig. I was going to…  
"Does this mean you have a crush on him or something?"  
I stopped dead in my tracks. How do I reply to that one?  
"Sorry." said Touya "Stupid question. How could anyone love that obnoxious little jerk?" He walked away and I just stood there on the stairs thinking about those last words. Was all of that true?  
I snapped myself out of it. This was Touya, right? But what if he was right? I tried not to think about it as I climbed the remaining stairs and went into Sakura's room.  
"What's with you?" asked Kero-Chan "You look like someone kicked you in the stomach. What, did Touya decide to get back at you?"  
I glowered at the stuffed toy. "It's nothing." I said in my usual calm tone. But, I couldn't help thinking about it. I was already trying to sort the whole thing in my mind when nature called. (I can't think of a more polite way to say it.) It was just as I was about to head out the door when a whole new horrifying thought hit me.  
"ACK!" I said aloud when I realized what this thought was.  
"What is it?" asked Kero-Chan.  
"I'm in Sakura's body!" I said, on the verge of heart failure.  
"I see you're a little slow to catch on." Kero replied.  
"No, you don't understand." I said "I… um… I have to…" My face was turning red again.  
"Is that what you're worried about?" said Kero.  
"Well, I can't do that when I'm in Sakura's body!" I replied.  
"So what're you planning to do? Hold it for the next two days? I don't think Sakura's going to appreciate it if you wreck her kidneys."  
"But… but…" Somebody smack me. I'm skipping.  
"And you can't exactly go for two days without bathing or changing clothes either, you know." Kero pointed out.  
"ACK!!" This was very, very bad!  
"Besides, you don't think Sakura's not going to do the same thing?"  
"ACK!!!" That was even worse!  
"Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that part, ne?"   
At that point I did the only thing I could think of.   
I fainted.  
  
**  
  
Kero was trying to wake me up by smack me across the face with his little paws.  
"C'mon, kid. Snap out of it!"  
"I'm awake! Okay?" I growled. I let out a pitiful sigh. "So what do I do?"  
Kero shrugged. "Just get it over with. It's not like anyone else is going to know."  
"Sakura will." I protested.  
"But she has to deal with the same thing as you. So that evens the whole thing out."  
"Or maybe you just want me to do this so you can bring it up whenever you want to humiliate me." I replied.  
"No. I'm just saying it like it is." said Kero. "Being able to humiliate you late is just a bonus."  
I let out another sigh and made the death march to the bathroom.  
  
**  
  
Is there some kind of phobia that causes people to be afraid of baths? I ask only because at the moment I was suffering from a serious case of it. I felt embarrassed and guilty and a whole lot of other bad things. After locking the bathroom door, I proceeded to hang towels over the bathroom mirrors. That sounds stupid, I know. As I got undressed I spent the whole time staring at the ceiling. In fact, I spent the whole ordeal staring at the ceiling. I think if you asked me I could tell you exactly how many pieces of ceiling dirt there were in the bathroom and their exact locations.  
I'd really rather not go into much more detail, except to say that I was still blushing the next morning. I also must say that it was the first time I can remember feeling like I had more dirt on me after a bath than before. I kept repeating to myself that I hadn't seen anything, even though that was a lie.  
Humiliated and feeling awful about myself, I trudged back to Sakura's room.  
  
**  
  
"You don't look so good." Kero said when I got back.  
"Somebody, please just kill me now." I replied.  
  
**  
  
The next morning I was feeling somewhat better, although I wasn't sure if I could face Sakura. This gives new meaning to the concept of not being able to face yourself in the morning. (Ha, ha. I made a funny. Oh, who cares?) Things went downhill when I realized I'd have to show up wearing Sakura's roller blades. Being a skilled martial artist and practitioner of magic, it wasn't too hard learning how to maintain my balance, although I did get a couple of brief painful lessons in why Sakura wears all that padding. Touya made some wisecrack about my having two left feet, so I hit him with a blunt object. My fist.  
Before he could respond to my attack, I was off. I was starting to feel a lot better now with the horrors of last night behind me.  
I was actually starting to feel optimistic. Hurtling at high speed around corners can do that to a person.  
I was feeling very aloof, so to speak, until I spotted Eriol and Nakuru ahead of me. As I skated past I shot him my usual glare. I would've kept on going, except…  
"Good morning to you to, Li-kun." Eriol said.  
I promptly fell down.   
"Come now, Li-kun." He continued. "You don't think I wouldn't recognize that glare of yours. I mean, after being on the receiving end of it so many times."  
I got to my feet and dusted myself off. I was in no mood to deal with this twit today.  
"I guess you still don't trust us, Li-kun." Eriol inquired.  
I crossed my arms and gave a contemptuous sniff. "Gee, nothing like stating the obvious, eh, Eriol." I said with bison-killing levels of sarcasm. "No wonder you're supposed to be so powerful. No, I don't trust you. I don't trust you as far as I could throw you, and believe me, throwing you around is something I think about a lot. I don't trust you, or that stupid cat or that pink haired twit…"  
"Hey!" Nakuru shouted.  
"Now, now." Eriol said, trying to calm her. "Li-kun is under a lot of stress."  
Nakuru growled and glared at me. I glared at Eriol. I was not going to let this pathetic Harry Potter wannabe patronize me.  
"Oh, really?" I said with great sarcasm. "Another one of the great Eriol's premonitions, huh?"  
"Isn't this out of character for Sakura?" he asked.  
"Bite me." I replied. Then I stuck out my tongue at him and skated off. Frankly, I was feeling great. I'd have never said that to him as myself, but somehow, as Sakura, I knew I'd get away with it.   
I was chuckling quietly to myself the rest of the way.  
  
**  
  
"Morning, Sakura-Chan." Rika greeted me as I stepped into the class.   
"Morning, um, Rika-Chan." I replied. It wasn't easy remembering everything about being Sakura, or really anything about being Sakura.  
When Sakura finally showed up she (or should it be he. Damn, I'm confused) was with Tomoyo.  
Big surprise.  
"Morning everyone." She said. I didn't know my voice could do chirpy and sweet. Frankly, I didn't want to know. I yanked her away from the door.  
"What are you doing?" I asked in a harsh whisper.  
"Saying 'good morning'. Why?" she replied.  
"Well, stop! I never sound that cheerful and I never smile like that!"  
"Well, why not?"  
I let out a sigh. "Look, just act like me."  
"You mean sullen and grouchy?"  
"That isn't how I would've put it." I replied. "Look, just try to do what I would do. Think of Touya's stupid remarks if you're not getting the right effect."  
"Touya? You haven't been arguing with him again, have you?"  
"No, of course not." I've just been beating the living daylights out of him.  
"What are you two talking about, over there?" Naoko asked.  
Sakura and I sweat dropped. "Nothing!" we replied.  
"Oh, by the way, Sakura-Chan…" said Chiharu.  
"Yes, Chiharu-Chan." I said in my best chirpy Sakura tone.  
"Don't forget about cheerleading practice this afternoon."  
I sweat dropped again. "Oh… Right… How could I forget?" Somebody please just shoot me.   
  
**  
  
Class was uneventful except that Sakura and I sat in the wrong seats twice. Cheerleading practice was something far more eventful. I will not mention the whole matter of changing uniforms, except to say that is very embarrassing and that Rika and Naoko kept asking why I was blushing.  
The basic gimmick behind practice, at least the way it went for me, was all baton related. Someone blows a whistle, you twirl the baton, toss it in the air and then you catch it.  
A less coordinated person would've had trouble, but I was okay. I was not as good as Sakura by any stretch of the imagination, but I was good enough not to attract any attention. I was expecting chaos and got monotony instead.   
Just as we were down to the last few throws, I noticed Touya about fifty yards away at the other end of the field. He was talking to Yukito and was definitely not aware of me.  
That was when a brilliant and evil idea entered my head. Naturally, since this involved Touya, I acted on it. As my baton started to come down, I raised my arm and grabbed the end of it. In one swift graceful motion, I brought my arm swiftly down and released the baton in a fashion similar to a knife throw. The baton traveled the full distance and whacked Touya right in the back of the head.  
"All right!" I shouted triumphantly. "Bulls-eye!"  
I was busy laughing my brains out when Naoko interrupted. "Sakura-Chan, are you all right?" she asked.  
"Of course, I am." I replied wiping away the tears from my laughter. I was still chuckling quietly.  
"I knew that you didn't always get along with your brother, Sakura-Chan," said Chiharu "but, since when does the mere sight of him inspire you to hurl objects at his head?"  
"Yeah, since when." I knew that voice. It was me.  
"Li-kun!" I said in a chirpy tone.  
"Can I speak to you for a moment?" Sakura asked.  
"I'm afraid not, Li-kun." I replied sounding sunny and cheerful. "I have to go retrieve my baton. I lost my grip on it. Silly me." I gave my best 'kawaii-as-a-basket-of-kittens' Sakura expression and headed off to get the baton.  
"Drop something?" asked Touya, who was not in a good mood. He held up the baton.  
"Why, I guess I did." I was having a lot of fun with this. I snatched the baton from him.  
"What's the big idea?" he asked.  
"Bite me, oniichan." I replied while smiling and sounding cheerful. And then I took off.  
Today was a good day.  
  
**  
  
"Hoee… Li-kun." Sakura said, shaking her (or my. Damn, I'm still confused.) head, as we walked home. "Why are you beating up on, Touya-kun like that?"  
"You want me to beat him up another way?" I replied. "I'm open to suggestions."  
"I think what Sakura is trying to say, is that you weren't very, well… Sakura back there." said Tomoyo.  
"What did I say or do that was so out of character?" I asked.  
"Well, we could start with 'Bite me, oniichan'." replied Sakura.  
"What can I say?" I said shrugging my shoulders "The jerk has it coming for all the times he called me a 'brat'. Besides, don't tell me you haven't thought about getting payback on him."  
"Yeah, but I haven't been mad enough to throw a baton at his head yet."  
"Call it 'advance retribution'." I replied.  
  
**  
  
The next day went by a lot smoother, I think. All though we fell 'out of character' a couple of times. Once, in class, Terada called on 'Syaoran' and I spoke up.   
Whoops!  
I refrained from causing any further injuries to Touya. All in all, a good day. Although I was still feeling a little creepy about the bathing thing, I was feeling great. You know what they say about pride coming before a fall.  
It's true.  
  
**   
  
The time for us to change back was only a few minutes away. The park was, thankfully, empty. Tomoyo was getting the whole thing on tape. Kero-Chan and Kero-Ni were arguing over which of us handled the other's role better. Ever Eriol and Nakuru had shown up to watch.  
I didn't care about Eriol or Nakuru or the Keros arguing. I was feeling good.  
"You seemed to have enjoyed your time as Sakura-Chan, haven't you, Li-kun?" Eriol said in his usual droll tone.  
"Actually, a lot of the time, I have." I said. "And I got even with Touya too."  
"What ?!" began Nakuru.  
"Uh, nothing." I replied.  
"Okay!" Kero-Ni shouted. "Let's get this show on the road!"  
I gathered up my sword and Clow key in one hand and 'The Change' card in the other.   
"Well, don't get any ideas about keeping it, Li-kun." Sakura said. "I want to have my body back."  
"You worry too much." I said. "I want my body back too. I mean, just because I'm in love with you doesn't mean I want to be you." As soon as I finished those words, I knew I should never have said them. My face suddenly turned red and I clapped a hand to my mouth.  
"Wh- What did you say?" asked Sakura.  
"We're running out of time!!" shouted Kero-Ni.  
I suddenly went into full blown panic mode. "Uh.. Um…" The card! "Change Card! Release!"   
Sakura and I were surrounded by blue energy for a few seconds. As soon as the card returned to my hand, I grabbed my sword and key and ran for it. Sakura was still a little disoriented by the card's magic.  
I quickly used 'The Jump' card to get over the fence. After that point I just kept on running.  
  
  
Next: Syaoran has gone into hiding, embarrassed, humiliated and afraid to face Sakura again. It's almost Christmas and Syaoran must decide what to do next.  
  
Tune in for "Chapter 6: A Walk In The Park."  
  
Same Syaoran Time. Same Syaoran Channel  
.  
  
Notes: Yes, I know Syaoran would never say "Bite me" to anyone. But I thought it was funny. I always wondered what would happen if Syaoran blurted out his feelings by accident. I think the concept is sort of anti-WAFF in a way, but I couldn't think of any other way to write it. Gomen. 


	8. Interlude: Kero

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun)

Memo From The Legal Dept.

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it?

Interlude: Kero-Chan 

            Kero wasn't sure what to do anymore. Christmas was only a few days away and Sakura was moping about the house. Mostly, the whole situation was a result of Syaoran's disappearance a week earlier when he had accidentally blurted out his feelings about Sakura. Sakura had told him that Syaoran hadn't been to school at all during the week leading up to the Christmas break on the grounds that he had the flu.

            Sakura didn't believe the excuse. Neither did Tomoyo, or Sakura. Or for that matter, Yamazaki who had delivered Syaoran's assignments to his apartment and had been amazed to discover that Syaoran lived by himself.

            As the days went by, Sakura grew sadder and more solemn with every passing day. Kero knew full well what this was all about and that the only was to end it would be to get Syaoran out of hiding. Not an easy task. He remembered overhearing what Touya had said a week earlier about how "no one could love a brat like him." No doubt that had stung Syaoran pretty badly which was no doubt part of the reason for his hiding.

            This left Kero in an awkward position. He had wanted to get of Syaoran for some time. On the other hand, his absence was making Sakura miserable. There had to be some way to salvage this situation.

            'I can't believe I'm actually going to try and help that brat' he thought. The way fate works would never cease to amaze him.

            On the other hand, he had to admit that he couldn't see whatever it was that was under all that bitterness that made up Syaoran's outer persona. He was starting to wish that Eriol hadn't told him all the psychological stuff about Syaoran. His little head hurt. The fact was that there was a nice person under all that sound and fury that most people couldn't see.

            He remembered everything he had said and done those first few days. His unrelenting cruelty in everything he said.

            "You're pathetic, Sakura."

            "You're hopeless."

            "Hmph. Some Card Captor **you** are."

            And then there were all those times Syaroan had called him a 'stuffed animal'. And he remembered very well the day Sakura had captured 'The Sword' card. Kero had pointed out Sakura hadn't needed his help.

            "Oh, yeah?" he had replied.  "Everyone knows that 'The Sword' is an easy capture. Besides, if I hadn't shown up you're so called Card Captor would be twins right now. Maybe next time I'll just let the card finish her. Then maybe someone **competent** will get a chance at capturing the cards. I it finished you too maybe we'll get a **real** guardian beast too."

            It was hard to believe that the same jerk who had so coldly dismissed Sakura then was in love with her now. Then again, maybe it wasn't. Clearly, Sakura must have seen something likable about him then. Every time Syaoran yelled and insulted her, she would be calm and try to reason with him. This same girl who could spot something as hidden as that couldn't figure out why Syaoran was always blushing and stumbling over his words around her of late.

            The truth really was stranger than fiction. 

            That same snarling kid was also the one who was there for her when Yukito had told her that he didn't love her, at least, not in the romantic sense. That same jerk had been the one who had comforted her and let her cry on his shoulder.

            That thought brought Kero to another conclusion. Syaoran had probably seen what pain rejection causes and was trying to avoid it now. After all, who did he have to comfort him if he was rejected?

            'Now I can't believe I'm feeling sorry for him.' Kero thought. He finally decided to speak up. "Sakura?"

            "Hmm?" said Sakura.

            "I think I have an idea to get Syaoran out of his hiding place." Kero said.

            "You do?" Sakura suddenly brightened.

            "Yes, but before I tell you I have to warn you. You've got to think hard about what you're going to tell him." Kero explained. "You can't lie just to spare his feelings, you know."

            "I know, Kero-Chan." Sakura replied solemnly.

            "You're sure about this?"

            "Yes."

            Kero-Chan sighed. No turning back now. "All right, get the phone and call Tomoyo."


	9. A Walk In the Park

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun)

Memo From The Legal Dept.

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it?

Chapter Six: A Walk In The Park. 

            The snow was drifting down all around me as I walked down the shoveled paths of the park. My breath came out in small clouds. Christmas was coming and all around me people were in awe of the winter wonderland all around them. But I was deep in thought. 

            I was wearing the heavy black trench coat and gray and black plaid scarf that had arrived at my door this morning. They were a gift from Tomoyo who claimed they were repayment for letting her video tape my captures and wearing that stupid costume. She also asked if I would show up at her house at five this afternoon to try on the newest one. I knew full well what Tomoyo's hidden agenda was. She wanted me to show up because Sakura would be there.

            The coat and scarf were, of course, expensive. The coat had a silk lining in it that I thought was kind of extravagant. Well, that's Tomoyo for you. 

            I was still, however, plagued about what to do about Sakura. It was driving me nuts, just sitting around waiting for the ax to fall. So I decided to take a walk in the park and try to sort out in my mind what I should do.

            "Li-kun?"

            The sudden interruption scared the hell out of me. I turned to see Sakura's friend, Rika who was bundled up in a red coat and scarf.

            I let out a sigh. "Oh. It's you, Sasaki-san. You startled me." I must have been really lost in thought for her to sneak up on me like that.

            "Oh, I'm sorry, Li-kun." she replied. "I just couldn't help but notice that you were all alone. I saw you and wanted to say 'hello'." She smiled. I managed to smile back.

            "I see you're feeling better." she said.

            "Hmm? Oh. Yes! Um. I am, thank you." I replied.

            "It must be awfully sad for you to be spending Christmas alone." Rika said as she walked alongside me. I found it a little odd talking to her since we had never spoken to each other before. But, it was nice to just talk, I guess.

            "It is, I guess. I miss Meiling sometimes." I couldn't believe I'd said that. But I **did** miss Meiling some days. "I've gotten used to it, I guess."

            "But, why would you want to?" Rika asked.

            I smiled. "It's not like I want to. It's just the way things are."

            "You must be a lot stronger than me, Li-kun." said Rika. "I don't think I could stand being alone. Especially at Christmas." She paused for a moment. "You know, Sakura-Chan was very worried about you. "

            "Oh." I replied. Certainly, Sakura didn't believe that flu excuse, did she?

            "You should probably let her know you're all right."

            "I will, Sasaki-san." I said.

            Just then, someone else interrupted, the last person on Earth I would expect to come looking for me. "Mind if I cut in?" It was Nakuru. She was standing a few feet ahead of us wearing a long black coat and beret. She looked elegant and sophisticated as always.

            "Akizuki-san!" I said.

            "If you'll excuse me, Saskaki-san, I have something I want to talk about with Li-kun." Nakuru said politely. I was certain she was here because of what I had done to Touya, or for calling her a pink-haired twit. Or… well, it could be a lot of things.

            "Oh." said Rika. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Li-kun, and Merry Christmas!"

            "Merry Christmas to you too, Sasaki-san." I replied. After Rika left I turned toward Nakuru with a certain amount of building dread.

            "Oh, relax, Li-kun." she said. "I'm not going to beat you up. It **is** Christmas."

I relaxed slightly. "And what do you want?"

            "I just want to talk, Li-kun" Nakuru replied. "I know you and I don't always get along."

            I nodded. "I guess."

            "Lord knows, you won't give Eriol the time of day."

            I glowered just at the mention of Eriol's name.

            "You shouldn't be so hard on him, you know."

            "Why not?" I growled.

            "Look. Like it or not, we're stuck with each other, you and me and Eriol and Sakura and Kero and Suppi. Even Tomoyo. We're like a very weird family. It's only in that little circle of people that we can talk to openly about anything." Nakuru explained.

            "I suppose." I replied quietly.

            "Why don't we call a truce then, ne?" She held out her hand to me. I paused and then I shook hands with her.

            "Agreed." I said.

"I'm guessing that you're worried about Sakura, hm?"

I handed her Tomoyo's note. Nakuru read it. "It **is** pretty obvious, isn't it?"

I nodded. "What am I going to do, Akizuki-san? The suspence is killing me but…"

"But, you're afraid she'll say that she doesn't love you." Nakuru finished.

She was right on with that one. I could picture it in my head. Sakura would tell me, being as polite and nice about as possible. I would smile and say that was okay and act like it was no big deal. But it would be a big deal. I would smile to hide the pain 

"You're thinking of what happened with Sakura and Yukito, right?" said Nakuru.

I nodded.

"And, you're thinking about what Touya said about you." she finished. "I heard about it from Kero-Chan."

I let out a long sigh. What was I going to do?

"Look, Li-kun. You can't hide forever. As far as you know she **does** love you and you're hiding for nothing."

"You really think so, Akizuki-san?" I asked.

"Believe me. If she didn't at least **like** you she wouldn't have bothered making friends with you, or being worried about you, or… Well, you get the idea."

"I guess." I replied weakly. Somehow Nakuru didn't seem to notice that her pep talk was more insult than pep. Or maybe she did and just didn't care.

"Just have some faith in yourself." said Nakuru.

After a moment, I smiled. "Thanks, Akizuki-san."

"Just one more thing." she said. "If you ever hurt my Touya again or call me a pink-haired twit, I'll break every bone in you're body, okay?" She smiled brightly.

"I'll keep that in mind." I replied.

**

So, there I stood, like an idiot, just outside of Tomoyo's house, listening to the sound of my heart thumping so loudly I could swear everyone in a mile's radius could hear it.

Maybe Sakura wouldn't be there.

Maybe Tomoyo really **did** just want me to try on her latest battle costume.

Maybe Sakura just wanted to rip my heart out now so she could get on with planning her Christmas.

Nah. That didn't sound like Sakura, did it? She wouldn't do that at **Christmas** would she? Merry Christmas, Li-kun, and by the way I don't love you. Sorry.

Nope. Didn't fit.

Not that logic helped calm me any. As you may have guessed, I am not an optimistic person. I have my reasons for thinking things will go wrong for me, namely because they usually do.

Boy, I am cynical.

I know that people think I'm a fool for worrying about this, but somehow when everything in your life could be shattered, well, that's generally a good cause for worry. I still heard Touya's words resonating in my head. I couldn't get that jerk's voice to shut up. I started trying to focus on what Nakuru had said.

That wasn't much help either. I had to do something. I was starting to freeze and in a few minutes I'd just be a Syaoran-shaped pile of snow. So I did something.

I took my life in my hands and rang the doorbell.

**

            "You know, Li-kun," said Tomoyo as she helped brush the snow off of me. "You could've rang the bell sooner. It's not like I anyone here is going to bite you."

            Well, that meant Touya wasn't around. "Yes, but there is someone who wants to dress me up in ridiculous costumes." I replied.

            She knew full well that wasn't the reason I was standing out there. She smiled a smile that conveyed the message of  "Oh, **really**, Li-kun? Am **I** the one you're nervous about? I don't think so."

            Tomoyo can be very observant some times.

            "Trust me, Li-kun." Tomoyo said smiling mischievously. "You're going to like this one."

            God help me, I'm doomed.

**

            "Tomoyo-Chan…." I sighed.

            "You look great, Li-kun." Tomoyo replied.

            "I fail to see the humor." I said.

            "What makes you think I'm trying to be funny?" she asked.

            "Call it a shot in the dark." I replied.

            Tomoyo's latest creation was truly humiliating. It was a replica of the Prince's costume that Sakura had worn for the school play (Thankfully, minus the ridiculous hat). It was done in white with gold buttons and trim and a whit cape with the cresent moon on it. I didn't like the outfit that much then and I wasn't too fond of it now. Mostly, it was because it reminded me of the humiliation of being in that play.

            "Correct casting is everything, Li-kun." Tomoyo said cheerfully. "This is the role you **should've** played." She put on the finishing touches; a white beret and my sword, which she clipped to my belt. She stepped back and looked at me. "Something is still missing," she said.

            I rolled my eyes. What next?

            "I know!"

            Perfect.

            "We need a princess!"

            **WHAT ?**

            Tomoyo opened the door to the next room and standing behind it, wearing the same pink gown I had been forced to wear, was Sakura. She smiled and tilted her head slightly, causing her crown to slide a little to the left.

            I shouldn't have been surprised. I know I shouldn't have. But, I was. I felt my face flush red and my voice was suddenly lost.

            "S-Sa-Sakura!" I took a couple of steps backward and ended up tripping on my cape causing me to fall backwards.

            "Are you all right, Li-kun?" asked Sakura.

            "Um… I think so." I replied as I got back to my feet.

            "You know, we weren't sure that you'd show up." Sakura said. "It was all Kero-Chan's idea."

            Uh-oh. That wasn't a good sign.

            "Um, about… what you said… in the park…" began Sakura.

            "Yes..." I said getting very, **very** nervous.

            "Did you… Did you mean it?" she asked.

            This was my opportunity to back out, to avoid humiliation. But, I decided not to take it. "Yes." I said with all the confidence of a man hanging from a cliff. "Um, yes, I did." I was stumbling over my words and my face was a bright shade of red.  At this point, I was also staring at my feet. "I… I really wish I could've said it some **other** way…"

            "Why don't you say it now?" asked Sakura as she tried to meet my eyes, which was not an easy task.

I took a deep breath and looked into Sakura's eyes, those same green eyes that I had looked into a thousand times before and lost my voice. This was the moment of truth. 

"Sakura," I said after what felt like an eternity but must have only been two seconds. "I… I love you."

I was almost knocked over when Sakura hugged me, which was a surprise, and I was even more surprised at what she said next.

"I love you too, Li-kun."

There was a long silence.

"Li-kun?" said Sakura.

Further silence.

"Li-kun?"

"You'd better give him a moment, Sakura." Tomoyo giggled. She had the camcorder out again. "I think you broke his mind."

I managed to snap myself out of it. I looked into Sakura's eyes again. She smiled. I smiled back, blushing profusely yet again. (I know this is sappy, but hang in there.)

"Li-kun, why didn't you just tell me sooner?" asked Sakura.

Further blushing. "I wanted to. I really did but… somehow I always though that… well, you wouldn't love me back."

"I thought you never believed anything my brother told you?" Sakura replied as she rested her head against my shoulder.

"What? How did you know about that?" I asked.

"Kero-Chan told me." Sakura replied. That dumb stuffed toy, he never could keep his mouth shut.

"Okay," said Tomoyo. "Enough chit-chat. It's time for the royal couple to share the first dance." She turned on the CD player, which started playing a waltz. I won't say much about the dance except that I had to let Sakura lead because I was clueless about dancing.

"I keep expecting to wake up." I said. "This seems to good to be true."

"Christmas is a time for miracles, Li-kun." she replied, smiling as always. I couldn't help but notice she was still calling me 'Li-kun'. I wondered how long it would take before she could call me by my first name. 

As the waltz came to an end, a thought came to me. "You know," I said. "Touya isn't going to like this."

"That's his problem." Sakura replied and then she kissed me. I blushed, Tomoyo giggled and outside the snow continued to fall. It seemed that this Christmas all my dreams were coming true.

"Merry Christmas, Li-kun." Sakura said resting her head on my shoulder again.

"Merry Christmas, Sakura." I replied.

Next: It's New Year's Eve at the Daidouji house and everyone's invited! Li's plans to carry out the midnight kiss tradition will be interrupted, however, by a bunch of Clow cards. See Li run, see Li hide, See Li seal the cards, See Li run again as Touya tries to capture and kill him.

All of this and much more in: Chapter Seven: I Don't Get No Kick From Champagne


	10. I Get No Kick From Champagne

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun)

Memo From The Legal Dept.

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it?

Chapter Seven: I Don't Get No Kick From Champagne. 

            The days after Christmas just seemed to float by for me. More than once during the last week, Kero-Ni had to snap me out of my daydreaming. I had captured some of the cards since Christmas: 'The Snow', 'The Fly', 'The Shield' and 'The Through'. I'd captured them all while wearing that goofy Prince costume Tomoyo had made.

            But now, with New Year's fast approaching, I found myself more and more lost in thoughts of Sakura. To everyone around me I must have seemed like an out of it bozo, but that didn't matter to me. I didn't ever want to come down to Earth again.

            Of course, I realized that I was now in **serious** trouble. Touya was not going to stand for Sakura and me and I'm pretty sure my mother won't be thrilled when my letter arrives. It was like that play, "Romeo And What's-Her-Name?" by that old dead English guy. I'll have to ask Eriol for his name. My mom used to own a few of his works including one about a land made up entirely of magic. It was called "Avalon", if I recall correctly. Avalon. What an odd name.

            But, I'm wandering off topic.

            The last few days I tried to figure out how I had gotten to where I am today. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I started to wonder at exactly what point I realized that I had fallen in love with Sakura. It seemed hard to believe that I once detested her, that I couldn't wait to get rid of her. At what point had I looked into the emerald green eyes and never wanted to look away again?

            I know I'm getting sappy. Deal with it. 

            I guess I have all the time in the world to overanalyze the idea of Sakura and I, but for know I had to worry about getting my tasks around the apartment done and getting ready for the Daidouji New Year's party which Tomoyo had insisted that I come to.

            That's Tomoyo for you, I guess.

            "I still think you should try to avoid those two," grumbled Kero-Ni. He was trying to explain for the one-millionth time why it was imperative that I avoid Tomoyo and Sakura at all costs. His reasoning was that Sakura was an evil witch and Tomoyo was her spy. I will confess that I have believed some strange things in my life but Kero-Ni was, frankly, out of his tiny mind. I might still be lead to believe such thing about Eriol but not Sakura.

            I just rolled my eyes and contemplated the work I had to do today. "Looks like the plants need watering." I said. I decided to use a creative approach, I decided to use 'The Rain' card.

            "You're not going to **use** that thing, are you?" asked Kero-Ni. 

            "Why not?" I asked.

            "That card doesn't like me. It's got a bad attitude."

            I shook my head. Talk about **weird**. "Rain card. Release!" The card glowed for a moment before transforming into its true form. It looked at me briefly and then said "Ohayo!" in the cutest voice you could imagine. Then it giggled and kissed me on the nose again.

            "Um… Good morning to you too, Rain card." I said. I was still not quite sure what to make of this one. I instructed it to water the houseplants. It giggled and went off to carry out my order. 

            "See." I told Kero-Ni "It's harmless." A moment later, I had to keep myself from laughing out loud when 'The Rain' card unleashed a small downpour on Kero-Ni's head. Kero-Ni started shouting. 'The Rain' just stuck out its tongue at him and then darted behind my head to hide from him.

            "Why, you little…" Kero-Ni hissed.

            "Now, now." I chided while trying to keep a straight face. "Look on the bright side. You needed to get washed sooner or later." I patted 'The Rain' card gently on its kawaii little head before returning it to its card form.

            "How can you excuse that bratty little twerp? I'm soaked!" Kero-Ni shouted.

            Being a Card Captor isn't all it's cracked up to be.

**

            "Good Evening, Li-san." The servant who answered the door at the Daidouji house took my coat and scarf. I hoped she wouldn't notice my sword hidden in the lining. I always kept it with me in case of emergencies. "Tomoyo-san has been expecting you."

            For the record, I am used to dealing with people who are rich. There's a good explanation for this. I'm rich. Let's face it, they'd have to be to afford for me to fly over here and have my own apartment. I don't talk about it much since it's not that important to me.   

            Tomoyo's mother, Sonomi Daidouji, soon greeted me. Sonomi was a woman who stayed up to date in the latest trends or who at least liked to think so.

            "Good evening, Li-kun." she said.

            "Good evening, Daidouji-san." I replied. "I assume you've had a nice Christmas."

            "Yes. We have." A pause. "You know, I've always wondered why you're family sent you here. If that's not too personal a question."

            "Not at all." I said politely. "I'm here on matters of great importance to the Li clan. I'm here to act in their best interests."

            "I see." replied Sonomi.

            "There's a very old artifact, a book, that is of great importance to my family. We managed to track it to Tomoeda. I was sent here to retrieve it."

            "Any luck finding it yet?"

            "As a matter of fact," I said. "I have." 

**

            "Li-kun! I'm so glad you could make it!' Tomoyo greeted me in a violently affectionate manner. For a second I thought she might be channeling Meiling.

            Lots of people had already shown up, including Eriol and company whom I was hoping to avoid in order to keep my New Year's resolution of not killing him. Yukito was by himself and I didn't see Nakuru, which meant that she was probably clinging to Touya somewhere. Touya was someone else I wanted to avoid. I knew full well that if we met we'd start arguing and eventually I would have to kill him. And then Nakuru would try to kill me.

            Not my idea of a relaxing evening.

            "So what were you talking to my mother about?" asked Tomoyo "Is she still curious about the Li family fortune?"

            "I don't know why she would." I replied. "The Li Clan's wealth is mostly property and ancient artifacts."

            "Good evening, Li-kun," said a voice so familiar that just hearing it brought a blush to my face it was Sakura.

            "Sakura! You startled me!" I said, my face turning redder.

            "I'm sorry, Li-kun." Sakura replied while trying to stifle a giggle.

            "Well, well…" There was a voice that caused my stomach to turn. I **know** everyone thinks I shouldn't hate Eriol. But I do. "We were wondering when you'd show up, Li-kun." I found him smug and condescending but… "I hear you promised Nakuru that you'd stop hating us. That's quite different from most New Year's resolutions."

            That twerp. "Now, now, Li-kun. I know you don't trust me that much and you have some pretty good reasons not to. But it is New Year's."

            "Actually, it's not you I'm worried about." I replied.

            "Oh, I wouldn't worry about Touya too much. He has his hands full with Nakuru right now."

            "This whole evening will be completely perfect if I can just avoid dealing with another Clow card." I grumbled.

            "Yes, they've been keeping you busy, I hear." Eriol said. "It's odd actually. The Clow cards don't generally work together but they seem to be coming after you in teams instead of just one at a time."

            "Any ideas why that is, Eriol-kun?" asked Sakura.

            Eriol shrugged. "It's a different deck. The cards are bound to have certain differences in personalities from the Clow you have, Sakura. Take 'The Rain' card. When Sakura faced it, the card had a bit of a bad attitude. When Syaoran faced it, it cooperated with him."

            "Maybe it has a crush on him." Tomoyo giggled.

            I rolled my eyes. "Actually, 'The Rain' is still a prankster." I said. "It listens to me but it keeps picking on Kero-Ni for some reason."

            "See?" Tomoyo said cheerfully. "It's jealous."

            I shook my head. Why did it seem like we were always talking shop?

            Eriol must have sensed my boredom or was bored himself, so he changed the topic. "You know there's a long standing tradition for New Year's Eve. At midnight everyone has to kiss someone."

            I almost fell over. 

            "Just don't let Touya catch you." Tomoyo said.

            I felt a blush rise to my face and I planned to say **something** in protest but I couldn't find my voice. Even Sakura was blushing slightly at this point.

            "It would certainly make an interesting story to tell your children someday." Said Eriol.

            That time, I fell over. Eriol had apparently traded off talking about the cards for humiliating me. I really don't like him.

            "Oh, you should have seen them at Christmas." said Tomoyo. "They were sooo **kawaii**! I think I'll show the video of it!"

            "ACK!" This would not be good. Besides, the truth of the matter was that the tape was probably of limited entertainment value. Sakura and I weren't the best dancers in the world and our first kiss would probably look pretty clumsy. Not that I had complained. "Please tell me you're kidding, Daidouji."

            "Why not?" Tomoyo asked. "Everyone will get a kick out of it."

            "Yeah, especially me if Touya sees it." Actually, I could pound Touya into the ground if I wanted to but I was not about to incur Nakuru's wrath if I could avoid it.

            "By the way," Tomoyo asked Sakura. "I'm curious. Do you know if Li-kun has a birth mark on him anywhere?"

            I fell over again. Sakura blushed. "Hoeee, Tomoyo-Chan! What kind of question is that?!"

            "Well, it's not like he's going to tell me." replied Tomoyo.

            "Daidouji, you are a very strange person." I said shaking my head.

Tomoyo let out a small sigh. "Honestly, Li-kun, you are no fun."

            "Thanks," I grumbled. "I try."

            "What are you doing here anyways, brat?" Damn it. How could I let Touya sneak up on me like that?

            "**You're** looking better, I see." I grumbled.  "Amazing, considering how accident prone you've been lately. You know, Touya, New Year's is a time to resolve to make yourself better. In your case, I'd suggest learning how to duck. Never know when you're going to have to deal with another baton. At least you absorbed the impact with your head so that nothing vital was damaged. That's a start." It was only then that I noticed Nakuru clinging to him the way Meiling used to cling to me. She didn't seem very happy with me either. I ignored it.

            "Maybe I'm asking too much." I went on. "Maybe I shouldn't ask you for something that big in one year. Maybe you should just try to get your head out of…"

            "Li-kun!" Sakura interrupted.

            "Just stay away from my sister, you little jerk." Touya growled just moments before Nakuru dragged him away.

            Sakura let out a sigh. "Honestly, why can't the two of you get along?"

            "Because I have a reputation to maintain." I replied sarcastically.

            When you become a Card Captor you gain a sense for Clow cards. If one is around you can tell immediately. It's kind of like an electric charge. Unfortunately, I was getting some serious voltage at that moment.

            "Well, there goes my evening." I grumbled.

            "Another Clow card?" asked Sakura.

            I nodded. "Daidouji, you think you can cover for us for awhile?"  
            "Sure." replied Tomoyo.

            "Is there anything I can do?" asked Eriol.

            "Yeah," I replied. "Can you lock Touya in the basement until one o' clock?"

**

            Sneaking out of the party wasn't difficult. Being a Daidouji affair, the place was packed with everyone who had ever set foot on the Daidouji estate. Sakura and I made our way to the back of the house where we found our Clow card. A tree in the back yard had several small flames burning on its branches.

            "Lovely," I grumbled. "It's 'The Firey' card."

            "Maybe if we attack it now we can seal it before it gets to strong." Sakura suggested.

            "Good idea." I replied. "If I use 'The Watery' and 'The Freeze' I should be able to stop it in its tracks."

            Sakura nodded. "I'll use 'The Windy' and 'The Snow' as back-up."

            I looked at my watch. It was almost ten-thirty. "Okay. Let's get this over with." We decided to creep a little closer to the card to make the attack easier. 

            That turned out to be a very bad idea. 

            A second later we were surrounded by green walls. 'The Maze' card!  It was a trap!

            "I don't believe it!" I said. "Why are they ganging up on me?"

            "I don't understand it either." said Sakura. "The Clow cards rarely work together."

            "Worse. 'The Firey' is in 'The Maze' with us." I grumbled. I just hoped there was nothing else in the maze with us.

            It took three seconds for my hopes to be dashed. I think that's a new record. 

            Out of nowhere came a volley of energy blasts. Just what I needed to make my night complete. 'The Shot' card was firing at us. Naturally, being calm, composed and experienced Card Captors we handled the situation by running like hell.

            I quickly grabbed the card I needed. "Mirror Card! Reflect 'The Shot' card's attack!" The card glowed and transformed into a mirror, which fired the shots back at the card, effectively disabling it.

            "Shot card! Return to your power confined!" I sealed the card and it promptly floated over to me.

            "This is really déjà vu, Li-kun." said Sakura.

            I nodded. "We can use 'The Through' card to get out of this blasted Escher painting."

            "What about 'The Firey'?"

            "It'll be easier to capture if we get out of here first." I replied. Sakura and I both used 'The Through' to make our way through the walls of the maze. When I spotted the exit I checked my watch again. It was after eleven now.

            "I hope I never have to do that again." Sakura grumbled.

            "You and me both." I said. "Maze card! Return to your power confined!" The vast maze disappeared, leaving only its card behind.    

            No sooner had I picked up 'The Maze' card than we were attacked again. Why does a wonderful and talented person like myself have to suffer like this?

            'The Firey' card wasn't wasting any time trying to fry us. It was only through sheer luck that I managed to grab the right cards. "Watery card! Freeze card! Release!"

            'The Firey' was too close behind us to mount a defense to my attack. It was swatted out of the air and almost extinguished.

            "Firey card, return to your power confined!" 'The Firey' card's form burned away leaving its card behind. I slumped down into the snow, exhausted. "Is it just me," I asked "Or does this job get harder every day?"

**

            "I see you made it back," said Eriol. He checked his watch. "And with fifteen minutes to spare."

            "So which card was it?" asked Tomoyo.

            "You mean which **cards**." I replied. I held out the three cards.

            Eriol seemed quite amazed. "That's quite a capture, Li-kun. Still, its unusual for a card to set a trap like that."

            "Could it be a coincidence?" asked Tomoyo.

            "It probably is." replied Sakura.

            I, on the other hand, was not so confident. The cards had been attacking in pairs and trios, which was not supposed to happen. The sudden chanting of the guests interrupted my thoughts.

            "Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six…"

            ACK! I was thoroughly unprepared for this moment!

            "Five… Four… Three… Two…"

            Was Eriol serious about that New Year's tradition? Or was he kidding? I had two seconds to figure out what the hell was going on!

            "One… HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

            It turned out I didn't need to think about it since Sakura kissed me first, an event that surprised the hell out of me. "Happy New Year, Li-kun." She said quietly.

            "Happy New Year, Sakura." I replied. Unfortunately, the moment didn't last. A second later I was yanked off my feet by you-know-who.

            "What do you think you're doing, brat?" asked Touya, who had a firm grip on the front of my shirt.

            "Touya! Let him go!" shouted Sakura.

            "You have no holiday spirit, you know that, Touya?" I told him. Then I promptly kicked him in the shin which caused him to let go of me. I looked at my watch. "Twenty seconds. That's got to be a new record for breaking resolutions." I turned to Sakura. I took her hand and kissed it, a trick Tomoyo had insisted I try sooner or later. "I'm sorry, but it seems I have to run." After that I took off with Touya stumbling behind me shouting.

            What am I going to do about that guy?

Next: Sakura is feeling left out of Syaoran's captures and decides to make sure she helps him on his next capture which turns out to be (surprise, surprise) 'The Thunder' card!

Join us for:

Chapter Eight: "Isn't This Where I Came In?"


	11. Interlude: Tomoyo

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun)

Memo From The Legal Dept.

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it?

Interlude: Tomoyo 

            Tomoyo Daidouji was hard at work again. She was surrounded by fabrics, trying to figure out what to put on Syaoran next. Coming up with ideas for Syaoran's costumes was not as easy as she would've thought. Dressing Sakura to look like a cute and cuddly magical heroine was one thing, dressing Syaoran to look like some kind of bishonen hero was something else. It was a task that was far more limiting in more ways than one. Of course, Syaoran was capable of looking serious and heroic even in the most ridiculous outfits. As she was working out her latest design she was watching one of her many videos on the television. This one was of rehearsals for the school play and there on the screen was Syaoran with his arms folded and his usual glaring expression, looking as dignified and serious as anyone could while wearing a pink gown and blonde wig.

            That kind of thing would make card capturing too difficult though, Tomoyo reasoned. Plus, Syaoran was already reluctant to wear the outfits. Best not to try his patience too much.

            It didn't matter too much right now since Tomoyo was still overjoyed with her success at in engineering the romance between Sakura and Syaoran. (One might argue that she was not solely responsible for this occurrence, but let's not burst her bubble, ne?) It had not occurred to her that playing matchmaker for a couple of thirteen year olds was not exactly worthy of a Jane Austen story, but never mind. Still, it was kind of an odd pairing with Sakura being so bright and cheery and Syaoran being so cold and dissonant. It was all in the eyes. Sakura had wonderful green eyes that were soft and instilled trust. Syaoran was another matter. If the eyes were the windows to the soul, Syaoran kept the shutters closed, the blinds down and the curtains pulled. When his cold amber eyes glowered at you, you felt like he could see right through you. The fact that Sakura had melted away Syaoran's mean exterior was a tribute to her loving attitude.

Tomoyo had more or less resigned herself to the fact that she would never **completely** understand the way Syaoran Li's mind worked, mostly because he didn't **want** anyone to know. The real Syaoran was hidden under layers of what Eriol referred to as defense mechanisms.

            Eriol did seem to understand a lot of things about Syaoran that Tomoyo was fairly sure she would never get. (Syaoran himself called Eriol's explanations "overwrought Freudian platitudes".)  Eriol might have also had a thing or two to say about Tomoyo's practice of dressing up her friends like dolls, but that's another psychological analysis all together. 

            If Sakura and Syaoran were complete opposites, Syaoran and Eriol were opposite versions of the same person. Eriol was calm, soft-spoken, polite and sophisticated and Syaoran was suspicious, ill tempered and mistrustful. Of course, Eriol had years of experience derived from being a reincarnation of Clow Reed, which Syaoran did not.

That gave Tomoyo a good costume idea.

Syaoran was also unusually popular with the girls lately. He had always been the subject of gossip around the classroom amongst the members of the female gender. After all, he was the mysterious exchange student. Of course, over time several humiliating situations had shattered Syaoran's air of mystery. Well, at least until Rika had started telling everyone that she had seen Syaoran in the hallway with a sword. Since the story hadn't come from Rika instead of Yamazaki, no one had any reasons to doubt it. After Christmas holidays, Terada had heard the rumor and decided to search Syaoran's backpack and locker "just in case". Terada hadn't found the sword but he did find a dozen or so pink envelopes in Syaoran's locker, which turned out to be love letters. There was much blushing among the girls in the crowd who had come to watch, especially from Sakura, who had written six of them.

It got worse when Terada decided to read one of Sakura's letters out loud. Sakura and Syaoran were blushing for the next hour or two.

Tomoyo got another brilliant costume idea. It was wonderful. It was inspired. It was perfectly Tomoyo-esque.

Naturally, Syaoran would hate it.    


	12. Isn't This Where I Came In?

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun)

Memo From The Legal Dept.

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it?

Chapter Eight: Isn't This Where I Came In? 

            I was at the end of my rope.

            Literally.

            Maybe I should elaborate on that point a bit. I had been feeling great going into tonight's card capture since Tomoyo's latest costume wasn't finished yet. That meant that I got to wear my robes. The latest card was hiding on top of an office building. I had decided to sneak up on it by scaling the building using my grappling hook. I figured that using 'The Float' or 'The Fly' to get to the roof would attract the card's attention, which I didn't want.

            Things don't always work out the way you want them to.

            That was how I ended up dangling twenty-nine floors up and swinging like a pendulum while 'The Arrow' card used me for target practice from its post atop the building across the street. The windows on three floors had been shattered by 'The Arrow' card's attempts to do away with me. Sakura was at a cruising altitude of about ten floors up from me. She kept trying to get close enough to save me from plummeting to my death except that whenever she tried 'The Arrow' would try to pick her off. In the meantime, I was dodging arrows and shards of glass. I was not having fun.

            More over I was getting dizzy and nauseous.

            Fortunately, on my next swing to the left, I managed to hook my foot around the corner of the building. I had to get back on the ground without killing myself somehow. This wasn't an easy task since I didn't have a free hand to use my sword or cards. In other words, I was in **serious** trouble here.

            "Sakura!" I shouted, "You've got to get that card to stop shooting at me!"

            "I'm trying, Li-kun!" she shouted back.

            Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough as the next shot snapped the rope. I managed to grab the flagpole with one hand on the way down. I came to a jarring halt, still ten floors up in the air and with 'The Arrow' preparing another attack. The only things I had to my advantage were that I hadn't dislocated my shoulder and that I had a hand free. I guess the fact that I hadn't gone splat on the pavement was a bonus but that might not last.

Seconds later I was dodging arrows again by means of some fairly elaborate gymnastics tricks. It would have been a great Olympic routine for the uneven bars except that I was improvising to save my life. The barrage of arrows had started to do some serious damage to the concrete and a couple of more shots would certainly blast the flagpole loose. So, I took the only remaining option.

I let go.

"Float card! Release!" Thankfully, I was fast on the draw tonight and managed to get 'The Float' card to slow my descent. Being back on the ground didn't turn out to be such a great deal either. No sooner had 'The Float' card returned to my hand than 'The Arrow' had jumped down from the building across the street and attacked again.

"Li-kun! Watch out!" shouted Sakura who, I hoped was coming to help me. It was hard to tell, what with dodging lethal projectiles and all. Nice of her to point out the obvious though.

It's a good thing that I can think fast or I might've been in trouble. I managed to come up with a brilliant plan.

"Sand card! Firey card! Release!" 'The Sand' and 'The Firey' quickly surrounded 'The Arrow'. The end result was just what I had hoped for.

Voila! 'The Arrow' under glass.

"Arrow card! Return to your power confined!" The glass shattered into thousands of tiny pieces and were absorbed into a single card.  'The Arrow' drifted over into my hand.   

I let out a sigh. "I sure hope I never have to do **that** again."

"That was a great capture, Li-kun, and I got the whole thing on tape!" Tomoyo was having way too much fun at my expense."

Sakura, who had just gotten back down to the ground herself, looked disappointed however.

"Is something wrong, Sakura?" I asked.

"No… No! Not at all, Li-kun." Sakura said. "That was a great capture."

Something was bothering her. I could tell. But, if she didn't want to talk about it, I couldn't make her.

Besides, I had problems of my own to deal with.

 **

            I knew when I wrote my last letter to my family that there would be consequences. I told them all about Sakura and I. Thinking back on it, I don't know if the letter was a good idea or not.

            The response had come in the mail just that morning. It was more gracious than I would've hoped. I was certain someone would have a problem with my dating the girl I had been sent to defeat but, surprisingly, that wasn't the case. Both my mother and sisters seemed oddly pleased by my announcement. However, mother had become concerned about my claims of the second Clow book. My announcement gave me a reason to lie in order to stay in Tomoeda, thus the book and the cards had to be authenticated.

            That was what I had predicted would happen. What I hadn't predicted was that Meiling was the one they were sending to check out the cards. According to the letter, she would be arriving in a couple of days.

            This could lead to some very bad things.

**

            "Daidouji."

            "Yes, Li-kun."

            "Can I just say that I hate you?"

            The next night I was back on card capturing duty and back on the corporate rooftops. (I'm starting to hate heights.) Unfortunately, Tomoyo's new outfit was ready. I think it was her idea of a joke to dress me up in an exact replica of Eriol's robes including the stupid hat and glasses. My closets were starting to fill up with some really weird stuff.

            "Where's your sense of humor, Li-kun?" said Tomoyo.

            "If this is your idea of humor, Daidouji, then don't quit your day job." I replied. All I can say is that only someone like Eriol would have a fat enough head to wear a hat like this. At least I didn't have do carry that stupid staff. "If Hiiragizawa finds out about this…" I grumbled.

            "I'm sure **he'd** find it amusing." said Tomoyo.

            "That makes one of us." I said. On the bright side, I had finally tracked down 'The Thunder' card. The Clow cards were dropping left, right and center. Thankfully, most of the powerful ones were already captured. "Where's Sakura tonight?" I asked.

            Tomoyo shrugged. "She said she wasn't coming. Maybe she's coming down with a cold or something."

            I didn't believe that for a second.

            "Is something wrong, Li-kun?" asked Tomoyo. I decided to tell her about the letter I had received yesterday.

            "But why Meiling?" Tomoyo asked.

            I shrugged. "I'm not sure. But things could get very complicated soon." I was interrupted by a faint crackling sound. I looked off into the distance and saw 'The Thunder' card, about a hundred and fifty yards away and closing. I looked over the edge of the roof. I'm **really** starting to hate heights. Well, all I had to do was knock it out of the air with a lightning incantation, secure it with 'The Shadow' card and seal it? How hard could that be?

             Famous last words, if you ask me.

            "Okay, Let's get this over with." I drew my sword and targeted 'The Thunder' with it. "LIGHTNING!" The blast hit 'The Thunder' perfectly. I've got to admit, I'm good. 'The Thunder' hit the roof about ten feet away. It returned to its visible form. The rest should be easy.

            "Shadow card! Release!" Hey. That wasn't me. That sounded like…

            'The Shadow' quickly subdued 'The Thunder'. I turned to see Sakura on the next rooftop over. She was wearing the battle costume from her first battle with 'The Thunder'. You know the one I mean, black and pink with cat's ears and bells. She jumped the gap between the two buildings and continued with her work.

            "Thunder card! Return to your power confined!" I was stunned. Sakura had just popped up out of nowhere and sealed the card. When she was done she handed me 'The Thunder' card looking quite proud of herself. I, on the other hand, was not happy.

            "What the hell was that?!" I said when I finally found my voice again.

            Sakura recoiled as if I'd slapped her. "W-What?" Tomoyo seemed surprised too.

            "I thought I told you not to **not** to use the cards to help me unless it was absolutely necessary!" I shouted.

            Sakura's eyes started to well up with tears and she sniffled a little. Suddenly, I felt awful. I was yelling at her again. Dammit, when will I learn? Sakura's sniffle turned into outright sobbing, which she did on my shoulder. I put my arms around her out of instinct.

            "Sakura." I said in a calm voice. "What's this all about?"

            "You sniff d-don't need me," she said, her voice muffled. "You d-don't need my help to capture sniff the cards and even when you're in trouble you save yourself. I've j-just been getting in the way. I don't know why I was chosen as a Card Captor at all. Magic has always been easier for you. sniff"

            I allowed myself a small smile at the irony in all of this. "So that's what this is all about." I said. "Sakura, do you remember when you captured 'The Thunder' card?"

            "sniff Yes." Sakura replied. "You thought I was hopeless."

            I smiled again. "That's right. I did. And the next day you said to me 'Thanks for your help, Li-kun. But I won't need it next time.' I knew that wasn't true and I was right. You did need my help, for awhile. But as time passed, you got better and you needed my help less and less to capture the cards. One day, I started dreading that you tell me you didn't need me anymore again and I'd know it was true. Yes, I'm better with magic and I can capture the cards faster. But I've had more training than you have and I had the benefit of watching you at work. But would you really want to be me? You were chosen as the Card Captor because you weren't me. Touya isn't that far off about me sometimes. I am a brat sometimes. That's why I'll always need you. Without you I'm just an obnoxious twerp with a sword."

            Sakura's sobbing stopped and a sweet little smile crossed her face. "Thank you, Li-kun," she said.

            I used my handkerchief to wipe away her tears. "Don't thank me yet." I said. "We still have some problems to deal with." 

            I handed her the letter from home.

Next: Meiling's back! And just in time for Syaoran to deal with 'The Fight Card'. She says she has no problem with Sakura and Syaoran but can it **really** be that easy?

Plus, the most humiliating battle costume from Tomoyo yet!

(Hint: Think of an anime character closely associated with wolves. Syaoran's next costume is based on that character. Heeheehee ^-^)

All this and more in: Chapter Nine: Meiling Has Entered The Building!


	13. Meiling Has Entered The Building!

1 Card Captor Syaoran  
  
A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun)  
  
  
  
Memo From The Legal Dept.  
  
We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it?  
  
  
  
1.1 Chapter Nine: Meiling Has Entered The Building!  
  
I think most flights are hideously late so that people like me will worry themselves to death. I think the airlines become amused by the growing anxiety of people waiting long hours to meet friends and family.  
  
I was there waiting for Meiling to arrive.  
  
This was a tricky situation. On the one hand, Meiling was my cousin and one of my best friends. On the other hand, she was also my fiancé (creepy, huh?) and had a tendency towards shooting first and asking questions later, so to speak. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't missed Meiling on the other hand I didn't want to be around if she flew off the handle and decided to throttle Sakura either.  
  
Meiling is not always the most even-tempered of individuals.  
  
"Syaoran!" My thoughts were interrupted by a very familiar voice. Meiling was a tad over zealous in her greeting. When she hugged me she almost knocked me over.  
  
"You seem to be in a good mood." I said. "And for some reason that makes me nervous."  
  
"You know I'm always glad to see you, Syaoran-kun." Meiling replied.  
  
Now I was really confused. "You have read my letters, haven't you?" I definitely did not want to have to explain that I was with Sakura at this moment.  
  
"What? Oh, you mean do I know about you and the auburn haired klutz." Meiling dismissed my concerns with a wave of her hand. "Eh, I knew it was coming."  
  
I promptly fell over. "You knew?"  
  
"Of course I did. I'm not blind."  
  
"You're taking it awfully well." I replied.  
  
"Que sera, sera." said Meiling. "Besides, I can always hope that the whole thing fails miserably."  
  
I sweatdropped. That sounded like the Meiling I knew.  
  
"It's good to see you again, Master Syaoran," came another familiar voice.  
  
"Wei!" I was a little surprised to see him here too. "Mother didn't tell me you were going to be here too. It's good to see you, Wei."  
  
"We're moving into the apartment next door to yours." said Meiling. "Ah, my Syaoran, the master of the cards. It's about time. No more goofy costumes or video cameras or annoying stuffed animals."  
  
I sweatdropped again. "Um, about that."  
  
**  
  
I unlocked the front door to my apartment. "The book looks kinda different," I told Meiling. "But, it's definitely the Clow book."  
  
"I'm sure you can prove it." said Meiling.  
  
As soon as the door opened Kero-Ni floated up to us. "It's about time. There is absolutely nothing to do around here!"  
  
"Here's Exhibit A." I said blandly.  
  
Meiling seemed stunned. "There's another one?"  
  
"So it would seem." I said. "Meiling, meet Kero-Ni. Kero-Ni, this is my cousin, Meiling."  
  
I walked over and picked up the blue Clow book from off my desk. I handed it to Meiling who examined it. I knew she wouldn't be able to tell for certain whether or not it was a real book or a fake. Meiling didn't get the family gift. It made me wonder why she'd been sent in the first place.  
  
Not that I was complaining.  
  
"Actually, we're going after 'The Fight' card tonight." I said. "You should come with us, Meiling."  
  
"We?" inquired Meiling.  
  
"Um." I sweatdropped.  
  
**  
  
"Daidouji?" I said.  
  
"Yes?" replied Tomoyo.  
  
"I know I've said this before, many times, many ways, but, I hate you."  
  
Tomoyo's latest battle costume was a doozey all right; a replica of Princess Mononoke's outfit, complete with headband, arm bands, cloak made from a white wolf pelt (a fake one, I hoped), crystal pendant and war paint. The only thing that was missing was the weird mask.  
  
"Why on Earth did you think this would be a good idea, Daidouji?" I stood there, arms crossed, hoping that no one decided to go for a late night walk in the park.  
  
"Your name means small wolf, right? What character do you know of that has a closer connection to wolves than San?" said Tomoyo.  
  
"San is also a girl." I replied "And I am a guy. No matter how hard you try you can't convince me this outfit isn't a dress."  
  
Meanwhile, Sakura and Meiling were both trying and failing to cover the sounds of their giggling. Sakura was wearing the same frilly pink outfit she had worn to capture 'The Fight' card and Meiling was wearing her fighting robes. I couldn't help but notice that Tomoyo was wearing a rather elaborate new coat.  
  
"What's with the fancy new jacket, Daidouji?" I asked.  
  
"It's the latest thing in America." replied Tomoyo. "It's the new Madison Taylor line."  
  
I sweatdropped. "Madison Taylor? Sound like the name of a vacuous L.A brat."  
  
"Never mind what I'm wearing." Tomoyo said "This new battle costume looks great on film."  
  
"Daidouji, do you see it as your mission in life to humiliate me?" I asked. But before she could respond, 'The Fight' card made its appearance.  
  
"Looks like you're dinner date is here." said Sakura.  
  
"Are you sure you're not going to need any help?" asked Meiling.  
  
"No." I replied. "But I want to at least try to catch each card on my own."  
  
'The Fight' card bowed. I bowed in response. It made the first move. If my reflexes were any less accurate 'The Fight' would have clobbered me right off the start. While I was exchanging attacks with the card I managed to overhear the following conversation.  
  
"I don't know," said Kero-Chan "Without 'The Power' card, it'll take a lot for him to beat her."  
  
"Maybe for your CardCaptor," replied Kero-Ni "But not mine."  
  
"That's right. Syaoran can do anything." Meiling added.  
  
I wasn't exactly scoring a lot of hits though. On the plus side, 'The Fight' wasn't landing any hits either. At least not until it leaped into the air to dodge one of my punches and landed with one foot on my shoulder and used the other to try to kick me in the head. I managed to unbalance the card before its attack landed. As it fell I managed to hit it with one of my own kicks, knocking it over a nearby railing it the creek. This gave me an inspiration.  
  
"Freeze card! Release!" 'The Freeze' turned the water to ice, effectively trapping the card.  
  
"Fight card!" I said. "Return to your power confined!"  
  
Once the card was sealed Kero-Chan and Kero-Ni started arguing again. Sakura tried to congratulate me but tripped and quickly discovered that someone had tied her shoelaces together.  
  
I just stood there and wondered what would happen next.  
  
Also, I prayed that no one would ever see me in this outfit.  
  
  
  
Next: Syaoran's dreams become visions of the Final Judgment to come. But the judge isn't Yue!  
  
This and more in Chapter Ten: Nightmares And Dreamscapes.  
  
But first, another interlude.  
  
  
  
Note: The reference to Syaoran's battle costume will be funny only to those who have seen "Princess Mononoke". If you haven't, gomen, you won't get it. 


	14. Interlude: Yukito

1 Card Captor Syaoran  
  
A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun)  
  
  
  
Memo From The Legal Dept.  
  
We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it?  
  
  
  
1.1 Interlude: Yukito  
  
Yukito was frankly getting bored with this. He had sat there quietly for an hour and a half waiting for Touya to stop his pacing and ranting and other vaguely neurotic things.  
  
The ranting and pacing and all the other stuff was, of course, all about Syaoran Li. Lately all Touya seemed to talk about was "the brat". Yukito, to a degree, could understand why Touya was mad. This was about his little sister after all. But, as far as he could tell, there was nothing particularly horrible about Syaoran. Well, he had tried to set Touya on fire that one time, but that was a long time ago.  
  
Every time Touya saw him he'd have to start up again. Since Syaoran was around Sakura a lot lately that meant that Touya spent a lot of time complaining about him.  
  
Yukito was one of the most calm people in the world but this was starting to get on his nerves. Fujitaka Kinomoto was growing tired of it as well. Every day he'd have to listen to Touya complain that Syaoran had done something outrageous such as breathing within five hundred yards of Sakura.  
  
He did not, however, rant in Sakura's presence because that would give the impression that he actually cared which was completely unacceptable except in life threatening situations.  
  
This is not to suggest that Sakura was unaware of her brother's opinion of Syaoran. He made it quite clear by openly expressing a desire to kill him.  
  
Touya, of course, couldn't actually do this. Beating up on a kid would be very bad. Yukito also suspected that there was a good chance Syaoran would stomp on Touya, which would be worse.  
  
Yukito realized that this was between Syaoran and Touya was more or less over who got to keep Sakura. Touya would've probably been just as mad at any boy who was dating his sister. Granted, Syaoran had some extra aggravating factors, such as the time he tried to set Touya on fire. But that had been some time ago.  
  
"I don't mean to be rude," said Yukito. "But do I really need to be here for this? This is the third time this week I've heard all of this."  
  
"You don't understand, Yuki," said Touya "I don't want that, that gaki around my sister."  
  
Yukito thought about that for a moment. "A gaki and a kaijuu. I don't know. Sounds like a good match to me."  
  
"That's not funny, Yuki."  
  
"She's thirteen. What do you plan to do? Lock her in the house?" Yukito asked. "You can't pick her friends, you know."  
  
"But she's making a mistake!"  
  
"So?" replied Yukito. "Everyone has to make mistakes. Besides, I don't see anything wrong with Syaoran."  
  
"Nothing wrong? Are you feeling okay, Yuki?" Touya seemed shocked. "He tried to beat her up!"  
  
"That was a long time ago. People change." Yukito said.  
  
"I still think he's a brat." grumbled Touya.  
  
'Here we go again.' thought Yukito, shaking his head. 


	15. Nightmares And Dreamscapes

1 Card Captor Syaoran  
  
A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun)  
  
  
  
Memo From The Legal Dept.  
  
We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it?  
  
  
  
1.1 Chapter Ten: Nightmares And Dreamscapes  
  
1.2  
  
1.3 The Tokyo Tower was lit up like a Christmas tree. The wind was picking up. What was I doing here? How did I get here? I was certain I'd remember going downtown in the middle of the night.  
  
'This has got to be some kind of dream.' I thought to myself.  
  
Just then I remembered something. Hadn't Sakura mentioned dreams like this? They had something to do with the final judgment. That was it! She mentioned seeing the form of Yue standing on top of the observation deck of the Tokyo Tower. But why would I be having this dream? After all, I had already faced Yue's judgment. Why would I need the strange dreams?  
  
I noticed there was indeed a figure standing on top of the observation deck. And.  
  
Wait a second.  
  
It wasn't Yue!!  
  
The figure was a woman wearing a long red cloak and a red hat that vaguely resembled mine. She had blue eyes and, strangely enough, blue hair that came down to her waist. She was also wearing a pendant that caught my eye. It was gold and black.  
  
But, the fact was it wasn't Yue. It wasn't anyone I recognized.  
  
"Who are you?" I said aloud.  
  
"Isn't that obvious?" The voice sounded familiar. It sounded like.  
  
**  
  
.Kero-Ni. I opened my eyes and there he was floating above me. I sat up and looked over at the clock. I was awake half an hour earlier than usual.  
  
"You care to explain why you were talking in your sleep?" asked Kero- Ni.  
  
"I just had the strangest dream," I replied. "It was the final judgment. But. Yue wasn't the judge."  
  
"What?"  
  
I shook my head. "I don't understand it myself." Maybe I wasn't getting enough sleep. Last night I had sealed 'The Wave' card and 'The Glow' card. As much as I hated to admit it, I needed to talk to Eriol about this one.  
  
I decided I'd better get out of bed. I was greeted by an unpleasant surprise when I opened the bathroom door, however. A mountain of suds came spilling out.  
  
"Gyaa!" was the most intelligent thing I managed to say. Yes, 'The Bubbles' card had been hiding in my bathroom all night. I managed to fight my way though all the bubbles to find the card lounging around in the bath. After I sealed it, I had planned to chew out Kero-Ni for missing the card. But I had missed it too, so who was I to talk?  
  
**  
  
"You look tired today, Li-kun," were Sakura's first words to me that morning. I told her about 'The Bubbles'. She, of course, giggled. This is Sakura we're talking about. Shortly after I had finished, Eriol and Tomoyo arrived.  
  
That's when I told them about the dream. When I was finished Eriol looked both interested and concerned.  
  
"What do you think it means?" asked Sakura.  
  
"Have you ever seen this. person before, Li-kun?" asked Eriol.  
  
"No." I replied. "I figured she had something to do with you."  
  
"I don't know anyone like that." Eriol replied.  
  
"Are you sure?" I said skeptically. "This better not be another of your tricks, Hiiragizawa."  
  
"I'm serious, Syaoran." Eriol said. "That's what worries me. Whoever this woman is must be the one who gave you the Clow book in the first place."  
  
Eriol continued to contemplate the situation as we headed off to class. When I opened my locker I found a small white envelope inside.  
  
"Not another one." Sakura grumbled.  
  
"You seem awfully popular lately, Li-kun." Tomoyo said cheerfully.  
  
I read the note inside. "It's not what you think." I said. "It looks like dreams have just turned into reality."  
  
I handed the note to Sakura. It read:  
  
Syaoran Li,  
  
The time of your final judgment draws near. You don't know me except as the figure from your dream last night. I shall be the one to pass judgment upon you, as requested by my mistress. I would like to meet you and your allies. I wish for you to meet me at the address below when the clock strikes the twenty-second hour of today.  
  
  
  
-The Keeper Of The Final Judgment  
  
**  
  
The designated meeting place was the shrine where I had faced Yue's judgment and lost. Everyone decided to come twenty minutes early. Besides the usual team of Kero-Chan and Kero-Ni, plus Sakura, Tomoyo, and Meiling, Eriol was there as well as  
  
Yue, Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun. Everyone was interested in this. Yue was especially interested, mostly because he was mad about whoever-it-was butting in on his duties. I wasn't sure what to expect myself.  
  
"So who, or should I say what, do you think this woman is, Li-kun?" asked Sakura.  
  
I shrugged. "I'm not sure."  
  
"By the way, how many Clow cards are left?" asked Meiling.  
  
I paused to think about that one. "Fifteen or sixteen, I think." It was about then that the clock struck ten.  
  
"Syaoran Li?" came a voice I had never heard before, a decidedly female voice.  
  
I turned and saw a form appear from the shadows on the roof of the shrine. It was the same woman I had seen in my dream.  
  
"I'm Syaoran Li." I said.  
  
"I know," the woman replied. "My name is Lucia. I was sent here by my mistress to give you the book of Clow and to pass the final judgment upon you once you captured the cards."  
  
"Now wait a second," Eriol interrupted. "Final judgment on the cards has always remained with Yue!"  
  
"You shouldn't interrupt me when I am speaking, Clow," Lucia replied. Her voice was even and cold. "This is not a matter for you to decide."  
  
"Since when does the judgment of the book of Clow lie with someone other than its creators and guardians?" asked Ruby Moon, heavy on the sarcasm.  
  
"The book that Syaoran possesses does not belong to you. It is the property of my mistress. Therefore the judgment of the Card Captor should belong to her," said Lucia.  
  
"So just who is this mistress?" asked Yue.  
  
"That's none of your concern, Moon Guardian." Lucia replied.  
  
'Geez. She's pretty cold.' I thought to myself. "Okay, so why would she be so interested in giving me the book of Clow?" I asked.  
  
"She's trying to fix an error made in the previous judgment of the cards. By giving you the book of Clow it will set this error straight," said Lucia "Yue's judgment was clearly biased in favor of Kinomoto Sakura."  
  
"Are you accusing me of favoritism?" Yue was clearly irritated, to put it lightly. A second later he was struck down by a bolt of lightning.  
  
"Don't talk back to me, Moon Guardian." said Lucia  
  
"Now wait a sec." Before Eriol could finish, he was hurled through the air by an unseen force and into a nearby tree.  
  
I was stunned, to say the least. I knew it was hard to catch Eriol or Yue off guard. "This is very bad." I said quietly.  
  
  
  
Next: Lucia gives Syaoran an ultimatum. Either he accepts the terms of the final judgment to come or he has to surrender the cards to her. But what can he do when the results of the judgment will either be success or death?  
  
This and more in Chapter Eleven: The Beginning Of The End. 


	16. The Beginning Of The End

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun)

Memo From The Legal Dept.

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it?

Chapter Eleven: The Beginning Of The End 

            To say that I was nervous would be an understatement. Here I was standing before a woman who had just picked off Yue and Eriol like flies. Worse still, I hadn't seen it coming. As Ruby Moon helped Eriol to his feet I tried to sense the extent of Lucia's powers. Unfortunately, it didn't do any good. There was some kind of magic barrier around her. For the time being, I had to assume Lucia could be strong enough to beat us all. This situation called for tact.

            Not my strong point, actually.

            "If you're done, Clow, I'd like to continue." Lucia said. "You seem to be under the impression that the powers of Clow Reed have put you in control of this situation. I'm afraid they haven't. This is all part of a test. An experiment, if you will. Sakura should have failed the final judgment but was given an unfair second chance at it. Since Sakura had a second chance, it's only fair that Syaoran has one too."

            "Fine," replied Ruby Moon. "So why do **you** have to make the final judgment? Why can't Yue judge him?"

            "It all has to do with balance," said Lucia. "As you know, everyone with magic has a certain balance of power that determines which magics are more suited to them. You call them 'Sun' and 'Moon' energy, if I recall correctly. For Sakura, who has an even balance of these two energies there is no detriment based on the situation. But it's a serious handicap to place on Syaoran, who relies more on moon energy, to face Yue. His attacks are greatly reduced in strength against a Moon Guardian."

            "So," began Meiling. "He'd have to fight you?"  
            "No." Lucia replied flatly. "And I can't reveal the details of the judgment just yet." She looked at me carefully. "Syaoran Li, I present you with two paths that you can take. You can renounce the cards and return them to me. Or you can accept the terms of my judgment. However, I must warn you. Should you fail the judgment, I'm afraid you will be dead."

            **That** definitely took me by surprise. I stopped to think about this carefully. I knew that whatever the test was it wouldn't be as difficult as fighting Lucia herself. I'd lost the cards before. Could I risk losing them again?

            "Very well. I accept your terms," I said.

            "Li-kun?" Sakura seemed suddenly concerned. I remained silent. Lucia eyed me carefully for a moment.

            "If that is your wish, Syaoran Li," she said "Than we shall meet again once all the cards are sealed. As a token of my mistress' good will she wants you to have this."

            A single Clow card appeared before me. "It's in honor of the Final Judgment," she said. It was 'The Libra' card.

            Cute.

            "If that is all," Lucia finished. "Then I shall take my leave of you."

            "Now wait a second." It was Yue. I'd forgotten about him. It was very rare to see Yue lose his temper, but he was seriously ticked off. I think we can all guess why.

            "Are you planning to fight me, Moon Guardian?" asked Lucia. "Such an action is ill-advised."

            "Tell Yue to back off." I whispered to Sakura.

            "What?" she asked.

            "He'll listen to you." I replied.

            "Yue…" Sakura said. "Calm down. It's not worth it."

            Yue looked at Sakura quizzically for a long moment before finally taking a step back.

            Lucia watched him carefully before turning and disappearing into the shadows.

            "C'mon." I said. "Let's get four-eyes back home."

**

            Back at Eriol's house Nakuru confirmed that Eriol had sustained no serious injuries from being hurled against the tree. Just my luck, I guess. Yue had changed back into Yukito who was out cold in one of Eriol's chairs.

            "I still don't see why you stopped Yue." Eriol grumbled.

            "Come off it." I replied. "Yue couldn't beat her. Your just ticked off that **you** did something stupid. You the great and powerful Eriol." I was enjoying this a little too much. 

            "I still don't understand where she got the second book from." Meiling said.

            "Reality as we know it doesn't exist in a straight line." Eriol explained. "It exists like the branch of a tree. Occasionally, a small part of our reality splits off from the main structure. These diverted realities may only exist for a few days or hours. But for that period of time everything about them is real."

            "Exactly." I said. "Now think about this for just a second. Don't you think that someone who can manipulate realities to get a hold of that book might just be a little bit out of your league."

            "Perhaps." Eriol replied. "That doesn't explain why you accepted her challenge."

            I was really starting to lose it with this twerp. "Maybe it doesn't mean anything to you, oh great and powerful one, but it sure means something to me! I've finally gotten a second chance for the cards and I'm not going to give it up."

            "Are they worth putting your life on the line for?"

            "In case you haven't noticed, capturing the cards is a life threatening activity in itself, you know. But I guess you wouldn't know anything about that, would you, Hiirigizawa?"

            "Li-kun!" Sakura interrupted. 

I ignored her. "If you weren't so full of your own self-righteousness…"

            "Li-kun!" Sakura said again. 

            I paused for a moment before storming out of the house. I was sick and tired of dealing with that obnoxious little jerk. I was sick of his cloying, condescending arrogance. I honestly just wanted to…

            "Li-kun!"  It was Sakura. "Li-kun! Wait up!"

            "What is it?" I asked. I was still in a bad mood. 

            "Look, I know your mad at Eriol-kun…" she began.

            "What was your first clue?" I replied.

            She looked at me carefully. "Are you sure you're doing the right thing?"

            "What do you mean?" I asked.

            "The Clow cards. Do you really want to risk your life over them?"

            "Haven't I already?" I asked. "Haven't you?"

            "I know…" Sakura replied quietly. "But, it never occurred to me that you might…" Her eyes were starting to fill with tears. She rested her head against my shoulder. "I… don't want to lose you, Li-kun"

            I put my arms around her. "I know, Sakura. I wouldn't want to lose you either. But I can't just give up."

            "I know…" replied Sakura. 

I probably should have said something reassuring, but at the moment I couldn't think of anything.

I just hoped I knew what I was getting myself into.

Next: After getting caught in the rain Sakura gets sick and Syaoran has to take her home. But when Touya shows up will poor Li-kun be the one requiring medical attention?

All this and… well, some other stuff in Chapter Twelve: Take To Aspirin And Call Me In The Morning!

But first, an interlude…


	17. Take Two Aspirin And Call Me In The Morn...

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun)

Memo From The Legal Dept.

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it?

Chapter Twelve: Take Two Aspirin And Call Me In The Morning 

            There's something I'd like to talk about before I continue. Have you ever heard of the term 'idle rich'? It's generally used to describe someone who has a lot of money by birth and never has to work a day in their life. I mention this because I'm rich and my life is clearly not easy. Between the cards, my magic practice, school, avoiding Touya and so on my days are generally fairly full.

            Just this morning I had to deal with the latest in a stream of complaints from Meiling. It turns out her subscription service had misspelled her name. The had spelled it "Meilin" instead of "Meiling". Naturally, Meiling made a big deal out of this. It's one of her trademarks just like that hairstyle she ripped off from "Sailor Moon".

            "Why can't they just add the 'g' at the end of my name?" she had said. Then she grumbled something about a stupid American in the shipping department.

            This morning I got up earlier than usual. That turned out to be a good thing because I managed to make it to class before it started raining. It turned out to be only a brief downpour and most of the students avoided getting wet.

            Unfortunately, Sakura wasn't one of them. She came into class looking as though she swam to school.

"Sakura, are you alright?" asked Tomoyo, immediately concerned. So was I. Catching pneumonia can be detrimental to you health.

"I'm okay, Tomoyo-ch-ah-Ah-AH-Choo!" I handed Sakura my handerchief. "No. You're not, Sakura. It's obvious you've caught a cold from being out in the rain and staying here all day in those wet clothes isn't going to help." I explained. "Maybe you should go home."

"Really, Li-kun, I'm… AH-CHOO!"

"No, you're not." I replied.

Terada, who was hoping to get the class started sometime today, became curious as to what was going on. "What's going on?" were his exact words.

"Sakura got caught in the rain. It seems to have given her a head cold." I explained.

"AH-CHOO!"

"See?"

"Kinomoto-san, I'm afraid Li-san is right," said Terada. "You should probably go home and get some rest. Li-san, would you do me a favor and take Sakura home?"

"Um… yes, sir." I replied.

"AH-Ah-CHOOOO!"

**

            The walk to Sakura's home was fairly uneventful, except for the sneezing. When we got there we were greeted by Kero-Chan.

            "What's going on?" he asked.

            "Slight weather related mishap." I explained.

            "Ah-CHOO!" 

            "You'd better go change out of those wet clothes, Sakura." I said. "I'll make us some tea."

            "Thank you, Li…. AH-CHOO!"

            "Um… I didn't need that."

            "Oh, I'm so sorry, Li-kun."

            "That's okay," I sighed. "This shirt needs washing anyway."

**

            While I was making tea, I couldn't help but hear a strange, muffled sound coming from my school bag. I'll give you three guesses as to what it was and the first two don't count.

            When I opened it to see what was going on I found Kero-Ni inside. I'd like to say I was surprised, but, I wasn't. "What are **you** doing here?" I asked.

            "I want to be around for the rest of the card captures, of course." Kero-Ni replied. "Just think, soon I'll prove to that pathetic imposter who the **real** guardian beast is."

            I let out a sigh.

            "Hey, where are we anyway?" asked Kero-Ni.

            "I think you'll find out soon enough." I replied.

            "Say, what's that weird stain on your sleeve?" Kero-Ni asked.

**

            "Ah-CHOO! Thank you, sniffLi-kun," said Sakura as she took a sip of her tea. She had managed to change back into her pajamas and crawl into bed. She was not looking that well. I felt her forehead to see if she had a temperature, which is what my sisters always did to me when I had a cold. Meanwhile, Kero and Kero-Ni were glowering at each other again.

            "It's too bad there isn't a Clow card that can cure the common cold, ne?" said Sakura.

            "Well," I began. "There are some incantations that can cure illness and injury. My mother used to practice white magic quite a bit. I think two of my sisters still practice the art."

            "I don't suppose you sniff know any of those incantations." Sakura inquired.

            "I'm afraid not," I replied. "But it's not for a lack of trying. I just don't have the right energy balance for white magic, I guess." 

            "How are things with your family, Li-kun?"

            "Not bad." I said. "Although, we did have a few minor problems to deal with when the British handed over Hong Kong to China. But…" I stopped when I noticed that Sakura was looking fairly stunned and confused. She looked like someone who had just been asked to translate an abstract theory of the universe from Swahili. "I guess that politics isn't your strong suit, hm?"

            "Li-kun, why would you even bother…"

            "To follow that kind of thing? It's my business to know, Sakura. Whether I like it or not, I have a lot of responsibility to deal with." I paused. "Anyway, I'm going to stay here with you for now. I'm hoping Daidouji will be able to come by after classes. I don't want to leave you alone but I don't want to be around when your brother gets back either."

            It was at that moment that Sakura took hold of my hand, which made me slightly nervous and, of course, blushing followed. "I wish you and Touya could just learn to get along," said Sakura, sounding sleepy. "I mean, he's not always such a jerk."

            "I'm sure you tell him the same thing about me." I said.  "You just try and get some rest and…" It was then that I realized Sakura had already fallen asleep. "Uh… Never mind."

            "You know, Touya's going to be upset about this," said Kero-Chan.

            "What else is new?" I replied sarcastically.

            "No, I mean doing Sakura's chores around the house."

            "Well, I'm still here. I'll do them." I said.

            "YOU?!"

            "Yes. Is that so hard to believe?" I sighed. "But what can I expect of a stuffed animal, anyway?"

            "Well, seeing as you're so brilliant, maybe I should just retire to New York and become a cabbie," grumbled Kero-Chan.

            Somehow, I couldn't picture Kero-Chan with a New York accent. He handed me the list of Sakura's chores. "All right, plushie, you stay here in case Sakura needs anything. If she does, just let me know about it. Kero-Ni, I might need your help getting this stuff done before Daidouji gets here, so you're with me."

            "Of course, sir!" replied Kero-Ni. "I'm always happy to serve the **real** Card Captor."

            Kero-Chan glowered and I just sighed. I gave Sakura a small kiss on the forehead, which I thought was a romantic gesture, before leaving. Well, I would have left if Sakura wasn't still holding my hand which I couldn't get back. Sakura rolled over slightly in her sleep pulling my hand along with her, which in turn threw me off balance and caused me to fall backwards and crash to the floor.

            "Um… Could someone give me a hand here?" I said. "Preferably mine."

            "This isn't exactly his finest moment, is it?" said Kero-Chan.

**

            Before I went to work I called Tomoyo to ask her to take over for me after classes so that I could be gone before Touya arrived. She agreed but said I was paranoid. I replied that I had every reason to be paranoid. I would either be beaten up by Touya or, if I managed to take out the tall lanky doofus, I'd have to deal with Nakuru, which wouldn't be fun either.

            After I hung up the phone I noticed Kero-Chan had come downstairs. "Sakura is awake and she wants pudding," he said.

            "Nice try, plushie." I replied. I looked over the list. I noticed that one of the items was watering the house plants. "Well, I already have a solution for this one." I went and retrieve my sword and Clow cards from my school bag.

            "Oh no!" whined Kero-Ni. "Not 'The Rain' card again!"

            "Why not?" I asked.

            "It's always picking on me!"

            "A **real** Guardian beast wouldn't be afraid of the Clow cards." Kero-Chan gloated.

            "Rain card! Release!" The card dissolved into energy which quickly took the for of the cute little spirit we know as 'The Rain'. "Ohayo!" It said in its cute little voice. It looked over at Kero-Chan, then Kero-Ni. It looked back and forth between the two of them a couple of times before letting out a small shriek and hiding behind my head.

            "What's her problem?" asked Kero-Chan.

            'The Rain' whispered something in my ear. "It thinks Kero-Ni went out for reinforcements." I said. "Don't you worry about the big bad stuffed toys," I told it. "You just do your job, okay?" 

            'The Rain' looked nervously at Kero and Kero-Ni one last time before heading out on its rounds.

**

            I don't like the idea of doing someone else's laundry. I think most people agree. They would also agree that they don't want someone else looking through their laundry. This was what I was thinking while I worked on doing the Kinomoto laundry.

            "What on Earth are these?" asked Kero-Ni holding up an item.

            "I think those belong to Touya," I replied, trying not to laugh.

**

            "This floor will take forever to scrub," grumbled Kero-Ni.

            "Not if I can help it." I replied holding up 'The Bubbles' card.

**

            "This work is **sooooo** boring." Kero-Ni whined. 

            "Why don't you turn on the stereo?" I suggested. When he did what came out was Touya and Yukito singing "Who Let The Dogs Out?"

            "ACK!" was my immediate reaction. "Shut that off! Quick!"

**

            I was busy doing the dishes when Tomoyo arrived. "Well, well. I didn't know Sakura's family had the money to hire a maid."

            "Oh, shut up." I replied. I stepped away from the sink and packed up my sword and the Clow cards, just in case Touya or Sakura's father came home early. I aked Kero-Ni to go back into hiding as well.

            "What happened to your shirt?" asked Tomoyo "You've got a weird mark on your sleeve. What happened? Did she sneeze on you?"

            "Yes." I replied flatly.

            "Oh." Clearly, she hadn't been expecting that answer.

            "By the way, I can't help but notice that there are a lot of pictures of the same woman around this house." I picked on of the framed photos off of a shelf. "See?"

            "That's Nadesico Kinomoto." Tomoyo explained. "You know, Sakura's mother."

            "Oh." I replied. This was the first time I had ever actually seen a picture of Nadesico. Sakura talked about her from time to time but I had never gotten a clear picture of what she might have looked like. I set the picture back in its place. "Anyway," I continued. "I think she's still sleeping right now. Once I'm done with the dishes, I'll be leaving."

            Tomoyo headed upstairs to see Sakura and I returned to the unglamorous job of washing dishes. A few minutes later, I head the front door open again.

            Uh-oh! Touya's home!

            "I'm home!" Wait. That wasn't Touya's voice. That meant it must be… Yes, it was Fujitaka Kinomoto, who walked past the kitchen and noticed that there was someone who was not a member of his immediate family washing the dishes.

            "Um… Hello, sir…" I said.

            "And you are?" he asked.

            "Um… My name is Syaoran Li, sir." I replied. This situation made me very nervous because I didn't know what, if anything, Fujitaka Kinomoto thought of me.

            "Oh, yes. That's right. Now I recognize you," he said. "Might I ask why you're doing my daughter's chores?"

            "She got caught in the rain this morning and came down with a cold." I explained. "I brought her home."

            "Is she all right?" he asked, suddenly concerned.

            "Yes," I replied. "Daidouji-san is upstairs with her now."

            "Um… Might I ask what happened to your shirt?"

            "Uh… Your daughter sneezed on me, sir."

            "Oh." This was not a conversation for the ages.

            Just then, I heard the front door open again. This time it **was** Touya. "I'm home!" When he walked past the kitchen he immediately noticed me. Glowering ensued. "What are **you** doing here, brat?" he asked.

            "Your sister came down with a cold and…" Before Fujitaka could finish, Touya decided to interrogate me himself via the method of picking me up by the front of my shirt.

            "What did you do to my sister, you little jerk?!" he asked with all the subtlety of a kick in the head.

            "He didn't do anything to her, Touya." Fujitaka tried to explain. "Now put the boy down."

            "You're awfully judgmental for a guy who wears underwear with little ducks on them." I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster.

            This served only to make Touya madder. "Why you…"

            "Tell me, did you ever figure out who let the dogs out?" I said. I knew I was digging my own grave here, but I figured if Touya was going to pound me I may as well get something out of it.

            "Hello? Is anyone home?" called Yukito from the front door. Looks like I'm in the middle of rush hour. I used this momentary distraction to slip free of Touya's grip grab my school bag and sprint out the front door.

            "HEY!" shouted Touya. "Get back here!!"

            "Calm down, Touya," said Yukito. "You look like you're about to rupture a blood vessel." 

            Fortunately, Fujitaka and Yukito managed to hold off Touya long enough for me to get away.

**

            The next morning, everything was back to normal…

            Sort of.

            "How are you this morning, Li-kun?" Sakura asked.

            "AH-Choo!" I replied with a handkerchief in front of my face.

            Why me?

Next: Syaoran goes up against 'The Power' card but can he do when the card drags him to the bottom of a very deep aquarium tank? Will he succeed or will our hero sleep with the fishes? What's your best guess?

All this and other wordy stuff in Chapter 13: Houdini, Eat Your Heart Out.


	18. Interlude: Fujitaka

Card Captor Syaoran 

A CCS Fanfic By Card Captor Schlueter (a.k.a. Syaoran-kun)

Memo From The Legal Dept.

We don't own this stuff and we don't care because we have disclaimers. Try to sue us and we'll shred you into coleslaw, got it?

**Interlude: Fujitaka**

****

            Fujitaka Kinomoto had grown used to listening to his children argue. He knew full well that siblings don't always get along.

            But frankly, he was getting sick of listening to the same subject argued over, day after day, week after week.

            The subject was Syaoran Li.

            To be honest, Fujitaka had to confess he knew next to nothing about the boy but he did hear a lot about him. Unfortunately, the information came from Touya and Sakura who were completely biased. Any opinions form them had to be taken with enough grains of salt to sink a commercial freighter. Touya made him sound like the source of all evil and Sakura made him sound like a cuddly teddy bear. Worse still, they both kept expecting him to choose sides in this argument.

            This was not only a problem, it was a downright annoying problem.

            It was hard to be an impartial judge for a person you've never met. Okay. So maybe that wasn't **entirely** true. But the amount of time Syaoran Li and Fujitaka Kinomoto had been in the same room could be measured in minutes and the number would probably be a single digit. This struck him as odd at first since he knew most of Sakura's friends. On the other hand, Touya kept threatening to kill him so that might account for the lack of Syaoran around the Kinomoto household.

            Frankly, the whole thing was giving him a headache. Touya wouldn't shut up on most occasions. He had ranted for hours on New Year's Day and seemed to spend at least an hour on the topic every day since. Fujitaka had suggested that maybe he should actually **meet** Syaoran before passing judgment on him. Touya had reacted in the same cool calm fashion that Larry uses when Curly and Moe poke him in the eyes. You'd think that Fujitaka had suggested wallpapering the house with asbestos. He was starting to understand why Syaoran stayed away from their house. With the way Touya was acting he wasn't sure that **he** wanted to be a round the house.

            But, Touya did have his reasons. He claimed Syaoran was a bad influence the way American parents blame television. His prime example was a few months back when Sakura had punched, kicked and hurled a baton at her brother. Fujitaka was forced to admit that she **had** acted kind of strange those couple of days. On the other hand, Touya was relentless in his pursuit to annoy Sakura, so maybe he had it coming.

            Fujitaka shook his head and realized he was involved in a pointless endeavor. Trying to make sense of all of this was going to drive him insane. He looked over at the picture of Nadesico in its usual space on the shelf.

            "I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to handle this, hm?" he asked.


End file.
